


Lost in Translation

by abc321



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Fluff and Angst, Levi is an awkward dork, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining Levi, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5546657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abc321/pseuds/abc321
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi needs serious help with English Lit which comes in the form of one Armin Arlert and inevitably meets Eren as a result. It seems like fate just keeps pushing these two losers together. </p><p>Basically two dorks who don't really know how to communicate try and communicate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't talk about those wily, windy moors

Levi struggled with his words. It was common knowledge. When Ms. Ral had asked them to write a 5-7-5 haiku in English Lit within a 10 minute time-frame, he came up with:

I ate a pizza.

It was very delicious.

Pizza is my fave.

Of course when it was his turn to present to the class, doing so with an absolute straight face, it did nothing but cause an uproar of laughter. If it were any other student, Ms. Ral would have told them off for disrupting the class but since it was Levi…well. It was well known that he wasn’t the best at communicating using words. And despite his insisting that it was the 21st century and that he was using colloquialisms, _fave_ is most definitely not an actual word. Then of course the next person presented. That damn shitty-eyebrows. His haiku went something like this:

The first fall of snow.

Untouched, untainted and pure,

Brings me such delight.

Levi tried not to roll his eyes. Typical. He was curious to see what Hanji came up with, but her laughing fit at Levi’s attempt at poetry had resulted in her chair tipping backwards onto the hard linoleum floor. By some sort of miracle this had silenced the girl (winded her – God forbid Hanji ever be silent of her own accord) and Ms. Ral had sent her to the school nurse, just to be on the safe side. (Lest the school be faced by a lawsuit from the Zoe family, they were notorious for their lawsuits. It happened when you had a kid who liked to experiment.)

Most of the time, Levi didn’t care about his inability to express himself the normal way. Whatever that meant. Hanging out with Hanji and Erwin meant he didn’t even have to try and speak in a manner which was socially acceptable. His unique way of speaking caused more annoyance than anything, the shock on someone’s face when they realised that _no_ , _he was not joking, get your filthy hand off my shoulder you impudent little shitstain_. The glare in his narrowed eyes silenced any form of protest from being called little by someone who was just hitting 5'5".

Eventually, word got round school that he was pretty much an unapproachable character. So they didn’t approach him and saved him a load of hassle. This by no means meant he was a delinquent. Levi took his studies very seriously and was always scoring above average. Except in English Lit.

Seeing as he was not intent on drowning in loans for the rest of his life, he was aiming to get scholarships for university and if he didn’t do well in this subject he could kiss that chance goodbye. He wouldn’t tell anyone this but he wanted to do accounting or something as equally mundane but payed a shit-ton of money so he could get his mother a nice place to live in and not the mouldy (but clean) apartment they were staying in now. He knew it would take a while but perseverance was key.    

This is what brought him to his current situation. He would have just asked Erwin for help but they would have just ended up playing video games or getting up to the normal shit they did when they hung out. So instead, he signed up for a student tutor (there was no way he would be able to afford one outside of school). Already being part of the programme helped, he tutored Isabel every Wednesday afternoon in French so he asked Mr. Schultz if there were any students to help with him with his weak subject. He was told there was a slot open for Fridays after school but it was with a student in the year below. Levi didn’t care. He was shit at this subject and if a kid younger than him was capable of helping then he would take that help.

Levi walked into what was called the Learning Zone. It was basically where they could study but talk at the same time, unlike the library, which had a silent rule upheld with the iron fist that was Rico. It was fairly empty, which made sense since it _was_ Friday, so Levi took a seat at a table by the windows and got his books out, waiting for an – he checked his email again – Armin Arlert to show up. Five minutes before the agreed meetup time, a scrawny blonde kid appeared at his table.

“Levi?” Blondie asked. The said blonde hair was half tied back into a tiny bun and his big cornflower blue eyes were framed by thick, black rimmed glasses and Levi made out eyebrows that could maybe rival Erwin’s one day. Levi tried not to shudder at the thought. Then he realised.

“Wait, you’re Armin?”

“Erm yes?”

“Holy shit you look like a twelve year old hipster.”

Armin pursed his lips and nodded to himself.

“Right. Mr Schultz warned me of this.”

“What, that I’d call you a twelve year old hipster?” A thin black eyebrow rose sceptically.

“No,” Armin dragged out the ‘o’ here, “That you don’t really have a filter between your mouth and your mind.”

Levi gave him the onceover.

“You don’t seem too offended.” He was actually slightly impressed.

“Yeah well, my best friend is kind of like you so I guess I’m used to it.”

“Do you tutor them too?”

“Nah I don’t have the patience to tutor him.”

“Yet you think you’ll have the patience to teach me?”

“Well you look like you’d beat me to a pulp otherwise so I guess I don’t have a choice.” Armin spoke from the depths of his bag, pulling out a few books onto the table.

“I wouldn’t.”

“Huh?”

“I wouldn’t beat you to a pulp.”

“Oh. Erm. Okay.” The kid fidgeted for a second under Levi’s stare before pulling the novel, _Wuthering Heights_ , towards him. “So I was informed that this was the novel you were studying this term…”

Armin trailed off as he watched the older student pull his own copy to himself, grumbling under his breath as he opened it to the first page.

“Fucking hate this piece of fucking shitty literature-“

“Levi? Is everything okay?”

“Hm?” He looked up from the pages, his brow furrowed.

“Do you…not like the book?”

“Fucking hate it.”

“Oh you’ve read it before?”

A pause.

“I haven’t.”

“Eh?” Armin’s button nose was now scrunched up in confusion. Levi sighed.

“It’s my fucking mother.” He said. Armin looked no less confused. In fact, he looked ready to flee. Levi sighed again. “A few weeks ago we were in the supermarket and some old crone compared my mother to a young Clara Bush or some shit.”

“Clara Bush…?”

“Yeah. And so she looks this person up and gets really flattered and now she won’t stop _singing that fucking song._ ”

“What…song?”

Levi slams his book shut and angrily jabs his finger at the title on the book.

“ _This fucking song._ ” He is hissing now and Mr. Woerman at the desk looks like he’s about to shit himself. “My mother will not stop singing it and now it’s always in my fucking head whenever someone mentions fucking Heathcliff and Cathy and fucking _wily, windy moors_ and she can’t even fucking _sing_ but you can’t tell your fucking _mother_ that her singing sounds like the death wail of a constipated fox…what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Levi mentally marks this as the second time someone has fallen off their chair as a result of laughing at him.

Armin climbs back into his seat, wiping his eyes under his glasses that have miraculously stayed put.

“Oh wow.” He says, a few chuckles escaping here and there. Levi watches him warily. “That was, that was…yeah. By the way her name is _Kate_ Bush.”

“Oh.” Levi blinks a few times. “I don’t really give a shit.”

“You’re mum looks like her?”

“Apparently.”

“You know, Kate Bush is kind of hot.”

“What the _fuck?_ ”

Armin holds his hands up defensively. “I’m just saying I mean if you ever wanted to continue these sessions at your house then I would be more than willing-“

“What the _fuck?_ ”

“Okay, let’s get started then.”

“Good idea.”

***

At 5pm, Levi decided enough was enough. He clearly needed to sit down and read the entire book, a chapter by chapter walk-through would take too long as Armin had mentioned. They packed away their stuff and headed towards the exit.

“Alright so if you can read the book by next Friday that would be great. Now for Tuesday, I wanted to look more at your creative writing and poetry skills cause Ms. Ral gave me your haiku and well-“

“Hang on a second kid, what’s happening on Tuesday?”

Armin fiddled with the bag strap over his shoulder as they left the school building.

“Well, I was told two sessions a week would be more beneficial for you? If you don’t want to then I get it, I mean-“

“I’ll do it.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve read my haiku. I need all the help I can get.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Would _you_ mind? It’s _your_ time I’m using up.”

“Not at all, I mean this all goes down on record so it’s great for university applications.”

“Right, so Tuesday at the same time?”

“Yep.” Armin offered him a smile as Levi unlocked his bike from the shed and put on his helmet, frowning as he heard the kid quietly sing under his breath. “ _Heathcliff, it’s me your Cathy I’ve come home now, I’m so co-ho-ho-old_.” He stopped when he saw the look on Levi’s face, lips pursed as he tried not to laugh.

“Un-fucking-believable.” He muttered as he climbed onto his bike.

“See you on Tuesday Levi!” Armin called out as Levi offered him a one-handed wave and cycled onto the main road.

When he got home, his mother was humming _Wuthering Heights_ as she made dinner.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Levi is 5'5" in this AU. I feel like his height in canon was mostly due to malnutrition and decided to make him just a lil bit taller. We can give him that can't we?
> 
> And yes, I wrote this chapter with Wuthering Heights on repeat. 
> 
> Hopefully Eren will come in next chapter!


	2. Alien eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you can't tell, I'm probably going to try and include practically every snk character in this fic because a) I love them all and b) I am too much of a lazy shit to come up with my own
> 
> WARNING: they have a heart dissection in Biology. It's not in detail but blood is mentioned so it's a warning just in case.

 

Levi shook himself out of his reverie and looked into a pair of large green eyes.

He had been thinking about the session he had yesterday with Armin. The kid had emailed asking if it wasn’t too much trouble for Levi to write a short descriptive piece about himself so that they could go over it during their Tuesday session. Just a small paragraph.

Well.

_My name is Levi. I am 17 years old and a high school student. I have black hair and blue eyes that are also grey. My eyebrows are pretty much non-existent but this is preferred to having caterpillars living on my face. My uncle has told me that I look like an angry elf. My uncle doesn’t know that I’m the one who scratched the side of his beloved Cadillac. That was actually an accident. I actually like that car. But I guess karma really is a bitch and comes in all shapes and sizes._

Levi had to reassure Armin that the caterpillars comment was in _no way_ referring to him and that rather, his eyebrows added to the whole hipster thing he had going on. Armin then begrudgingly mumbled how that sentence could _maybe_ be interpreted as a metaphor. Maybe.

Back to the present.

“So, do you think you can make it?” He had just finished his French lesson with Isabel and he was proud to say that after a month, she had definitely shown progress.

“Make it to what?” He asked.

“Leeeeviiii,” Isabel whined. “My birthday party. My parents said they’d go out and be home by one in the morning latest. So I have the house to myself Saturday night to throw a party.”

“It’s not really my thing Izzy.”

“That’s bullshit Levi. You went to Mike’s party two weeks ago.” They ignored the stern look Mr. Woerman sent their way.

“He’s in my year.”

“I’m only one year younger than you! Actually this week I’ll be the same age as you!”

“For like a month.”

“Still!”

Levi sighed and thought of another excuse. “I won’t know anyone there.” Isabel scoffed.

“You can bring Hanji and Erwin. Or anyone.”

“I thought you didn’t like Erwin.”

“I’ve adjusted to his eyebrows.” Levi snorted and ruffled her hair.

“I have taught you well.”

Izzy grinned and Levi rolled his eyes.

“Fine. I’ll come. But only for a couple of hours. As a chaperone.” It was Isabel’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Don’t be such an old man Levi.”

“Maybe I won’t come then.”

“You don’t really have a choice. I got your mum’s number and told her, she said you’re going.”

“What the _fuck_ Izzy?”

She offered him her cheeky grin, one that had gotten her out of many a detention. Levi scowled in response. And then a slow smirk spread across his face. Isabel narrowed her eyes.

“What, why are you pulling that face?” She asked suspiciously.

“Just thought that I’d invite Farlan too.”

“Uh, um, why would you do that?” Her cheeks were lightly dusted with pink and she tugged on the ends of her hair. Levi shrugged.

“You said I could bring anyone.”

“Yeah, but I mean-“

“So message me the time and your address so I can let everyone know alright?” Levi said, getting up from his seat and trying not to laugh at his friend who had suddenly gone all quiet and shy. She looked up and saw his amused expression and quickly scowled at him.

“Ugh you’re so annoying.”

“Now, now Izzy, you and I both know that’s a lie.”

“Piss off Levi.”

“See you on Saturday Izzy, hey, maybe I’ll just message Farlan your number, you know, in case he gets lost?”

Levi thanked his quick reflexes as he dodged the French textbook being hurled his way, leaving Izzy to face the wrath of Mr. Woerman.  

***

“So Izzy is having her birthday party this Saturday.” Levi mentioned as he held Farlan in a headlock. Farlan twisted his way out of it and they both fell back into a defensive stance.

“Yeah?” He lunged forward and Levi easily dodged and spun back, throwing an elbow forward and ducking the punch thrown by Farlan.

“Wanna come with?” Levi asked, swiping his hair back from his forehead. Farlan paused, titling his head, ash blonde locks falling over his eyes.

“Aw Levi are you asking me out?” Levi feinted a punch which Farlan predictably dodged, allowing the shorter male to extend his leg and knock his sparring partner onto his back.

“Don’t be a shit.” Levi said from above. He liked this vantage point, it wasn’t one he experienced often.

“I fucking _hate_ that move.” Farlan hit his head back against the mats in frustration as Levi snickered.

“Alright that’s a wrap!” Shadis yelled. Everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and faced the teacher. “This was a good session. You all seem a lot more focussed now in comparison to last week.” He said, an eyebrow raised at the few students who giggled.

Last week, one of the students had uncovered a dead mouse behind the trolley holding all the mats. It was safe to say that not much kickboxing was done in that class. Like hell Levi was going to participate when a fucking mouse could have been on the same mats he might be thrown on. He demanded (maybe not demanded. Asked politely. As polite as Levi could get anyway) Principal Zacklay to replace the mats and a week later they were delivered, just in time for class. (Okay, so maybe Hanji had accompanied him to the office and maybe she not so subtly mentioned her parents and a lawsuit.)

After they had been dismissed, Levi and Farlan headed to the showers.

“So, uh, where is this party?”

Levi pursed his lips to hide his smirk as they walked into the changing rooms.

“Her place. She said her parents won’t be back till late.”

“Sounds good. Want me to pick you up?”

“Well I sure as hell am I not biking it back to my place at one in the morning. We’ll have to pick up the shitty duo as well.”

“Who else is going?”

“Not sure. Who knows with Miss Social Butterfly? I swear that kid knows the whole school.” Levi grabbed his towel and clothes and headed to the showers and looked back at Farlan who was looking pensive. “What are you threatened by the competition?”

“Fuck _off_ Levi.” He retorted, throwing his towel at him. Levi watched as it dropped to the floor at his feet, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“Have fun drying off with that germ infested towel.”

“I said fuck off.” Farlan whined.

Levi snickered in response and realised that both Izzy and Farlan had flung things at him after a conversation about the other.

They were clearly meant to be.  

***

It was Friday. Fina-fucking-lly. But before the weekend and its events could commence, Levi had to sit through this last hour of Biology with none other than Hanji, followed by an hour of fucking Wuthering Heights with a blonde hipster kid. He didn’t mind the kid, he just hated the book.

“So, Levi ready to dissect some hearts?” Hanji dumped the plastic bag she retrieved from the fridge in one of the trays provided and plonked herself in front of the bench.

“What the fuck is in there?”

“My heart.” She said innocently. Well as innocent as Hanji could get. “Well, not _my_ heart but the one I bought to dissect.”

Levi looked at his lamb’s heart, bought from the butchers’ yesterday evening. It could fit in the palm of his hand. He then looked back at the giant lump of meat Hanji pulled out of her plastic bag.

“What is that, the heart of a fucking Blue Whale?”

“Now, now Levi, the heart of a Blue Whale is approximately the size of a golf cart. There’s no way I’d be able to fit it into this tray. Besides, where on earth would I find one?”

“Then what the _fuck_ is that?” It was easily twice the size of his head.

“A buffalo heart.” She said proudly. _That is one big-ass heart_ , Levi thought as he eyed it up.

“Where the hell did you get one of those?”

“Well there’s a butchers near my place that sells all kinds of interesting meats. They have alligator and ostrich too – but they didn’t have any of the hearts available so I got stuck with buffalo.”

Levi rolled his eyes. _Of course_ Hanji would bring a damn buffalo heart to dissection.

Mr. Jarnach gathered everyone around their desk at the end of the class, the buffalo heart was a perfect example to use as the size allowed for the perfect viewing of the aorta and the other major arteries and veins as well all four chambers. He then asked Hanji if they could perhaps keep the heart to preserve in a (big) jar of formaldehyde for future demonstrations. Hanji beamed when he agreed to let her observe and maybe even help with the process. She turned to Levi with a giant grin on her face and made to grab at him with her bloodied latex gloves but was kicked away abruptly with a _back-off shitty glasses_.

He unsuccessfully hid his smile though and received a bear hug (with perfectly clean hands) as they left the classroom into emptying corridors. She knew he was happy for her. Even though the stuff she got happy about was weird as shit.

Then again, Levi got excited when his local supermarket had that apple-scented anti-bacterial spray on offer so he was in no place to judge.

***

“I can’t believe you didn’t like the book.” Armin said as they headed towards the bike shed.

“It was the most melodramatic thing I’ve ever read. Why the fuck didn’t she just marry Heathcliff and save them all the trouble?”

“But that’s what makes it a classic.”

“He fucking digs up her dead body Arlert.”

“Okay fine, you don’t have to like it.”

“Fucking Heathcliff was a tyrant.”

“Yeah I get it, you don’t like it.” Armin huffed, trying not to laugh at the older student. “Oh, we have a class trip next Friday to the observatory so I won’t be able to tutor you then. Can we do Thursday after school?”

“I have kickboxing on Thursdays.”

“Oh you’re in kickboxing? Do you know Mikasa? She does it too.”

“That name sounds familiar. Maybe I haven’t sparred with her yet.” Levi thought back to class and remembered hearing that name being thrown about and a black-haired, stoic girl came to mind, but he wasn’t sure.

“She’s really good. She offered to teach me but I couldn’t get into it.”    

“It’s not hard, you just have to keep up with practising the stances.” Levi balanced his bag on his bike (no way was he putting it on the floor). He then dropped into the defensive stance, his right leg towards to the back, the foot at a right angle to his left foot which was facing towards Armin.

“You’re making me do this now?”

“Yep.”

Armin huffed and dumped his bag on the floor and tried to mimic Levi’s position. Levi fixed up the angles and then stood opposite him again.

“Now look, when you kick out,” Levi demonstrated the kick, “You kick with you back foot and swivel out the heel of the front. Then, when you put your foot back down, you swivel the heel back in. It helps with balance.” Levi explained. “Show me.” He nodded at Armin and preceded to choke on his laughter when the kid ended up performing a half pirouette.

“Shut up.” He huffed.

“Okay, when you kick out, hold your back arm out, it should help too.” Levi demonstrated again, bringing his leg up high, it almost reached the kids head.

Said kid was suddenly pushed to the side and Levi ducked a punch thrown his way and twisted his body so that he was behind his assailant. He gave them a shove and watched as they sprawled to the ground. There was a simultaneous reaction from all three of them.

“ _Oof._ ”

“Who the _fu-_ “

“ _Eren!_ ”

The sprawled figure, Eren, pushed himself off the ground and glowered at Levi.

“Stay away from Armin.” He said, in what Levi assumed was supposed to be a menacing way. He snorted.

“Or what? You’ll beat me up?” He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, smirking as Eren practically bristled with anger.

“Eren you big idiot this is Levi. He was teaching me some kickboxing moves.” Armin said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Levi had a feeling this was not a rare occurrence.

“Levi?” Eren turned his freakishly big eyes back to Levi. He was now gawking. “Wait, Levi who went through to the finals last year for the under 18s kickboxing competition?”

“Woah, breathe kid.” Levi stepped back slightly at the enthusiasm. “Yeah that was me.”

“Dude, I _saw_ you fighting, you were so good! I mean I was supposed to be cheering on my sister, Mikasa, but I was watching you at the same time. Wait, have you met Mikasa? You look different now, did you do something with your hair?” Eren asked, his eyes wide and excited.

Levi was thoroughly confused. This kid had just tried to punch him in the face and yet he was now fawning over him like a fan girl.

“Eren slow down.” Armin said tiredly. “What have I told you about running into things headfirst?”

“Oh right, sorry about the whole punching thing.” Eren flushed and grinned sheepishly at the older student, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Those bright gold, green eyes of his shone out through a mop of brown hair.

 _He’s kind of cute_ \- wait what? Levi dismissed the thought and opened his mouth to accept the apology. He wasn’t one to hold grudges.

“What the hell is up with your eyes?” Was what he actually said in the end.

“Huh?” Eren tilted his head slightly to the side. _Like a cute puppy_. These inner comments were really beginning to annoy Levi.

“You have alien eyes.” He ignored Armin’s face-palm.

“I do not!” Eren yelled. “At least you can see my eyes. Yours look all beady like a fox.”

“You look like you injected fluorescent alien shit into your eyeballs.”

“Oh my god!” Armin interrupted Eren’s retort and gave the boy a shove instead. “Eren go wait by the gates. My grandpa will be here soon.”

Eren clenched his jaw and glared at Levi, those damn eyes ablaze as he stomped off. Levi tried to avoid eye contact with the blonde until he heard a very deliberate clearing of the throat. He tried to look nonchalant as he returned his gaze to those stern cornflower blues.

“What the hell Levi?”

“I don’t know why _you’re_ surprised, you know I have no filter.” Armin sighed, the heavy sigh of an old man with many burdens.

“Yeah well he doesn’t really have one either.”

“Was this the friend you tried to tutor?”

“Yep.” Armin chuckled to himself. “I have to admit though, that was pretty funny.” Levi rolled his eyes.

“Hey kid, give me your phone for a second.”

“Why?”

“I’m not gonna shit on it, I’m putting in my number so you can let me know what’s happening for next week. I don’t always check my emails.”

“Oh right. You really do need to work on that filter.” Armin said as they swapped phones.

“Tell me something new.” He mumbled as he got his bike ready. He look over at where Eren was standing, he could practically feel his glare.

“You know, kids used to tease him about his eyes when we were younger.” Armin said quietly, his expression serious. Levi frowned slightly.

“It just came out all fucked up.”

Armin patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

“He’ll get over it. Eren always bounces back. Just, well he kinda looks up to you a lot.”

“Eh? This is first time I’ve ever seen him.”

“Yeah well, he’s not allowed to take part in kickboxing so he likes watching you and Mikasa fight.”

“Why isn’t he allowed?”

“I don’t know if I should say.” Armin chewed on his lip. “Just, take it easy on him alright?”

“I never intended not to.” Levi mumbled quietly, feeling guilt gnaw at his insides. He looked up at Armin who was wearing a small smile on his face, like he knew something Levi didn’t. Levi rolled his eyes and climbed onto his bike, fixing his helmet and adjusting the strap of his messenger bag so that it would sit more comfortably on his back.

Armin still had that elusive smile on his face.

“What, are you gonna see me off or something?”

The blonde shook his head and pushed his glasses back into place.

“Just observing.”

“Yeah well don’t. It freaks the shit out of me and makes you look like the love child of the shitty duo.”

“The…shitty duo?”

“You don’t wanna know kid. Trust me on this.” Levi pursed his lips. “If it makes you feel any better, they’re both really smart.” Armin brightened up. “See you later Armin.”

On his way out, he cycled past Eren who was scuffing the toes of shoes on the ground. He looked up as Levi rode past and scowled. Levi tried not to laugh.

“See you around kid, try not to hit anyone over the weekend.” He called out, watching as Eren tilted his head to the side in confusion.

_Cute._

Dammit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at these dumb boys.
> 
> I don't know how everyone else did their dissections in bio but we had to bring in our own hearts. A girl in my class at school came in with a buffalo heart, at least I think it was buffalo. anyway, it was a big-ass heart. There is also a butchers not too far from me that sells ostrich and alligator meat. I live in the UK so this is a rare thing. 
> 
> I used to think that Blue Whales had hearts the size of a small car but I read an article somewhere where they found a dead one and saw that it was in fact roughly the size of a golf cart - who said you couldn't learn stuff from writing fanfic?
> 
> I just assumed they'd preserve it in formaldehyde, that's what they do at uni with stuff anyway. If you ever have dissection with something preserved in formaldehyde and wear contacts - take them out - apparently it can cause irritation. 
> 
> PS formaldehyde stinks and gives me headaches
> 
> PPS I have done like two lessons of kickboxing in my life so it is not accurate. 
> 
> PPPS that was a long ass note lol does anyone read these


	3. Literally and Figuratively

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy's party and a shitload of dialogue. so. much. talking. 
> 
> I wanted to do two chapters for this one but I didn't know where to cut it off. So here's a longer chapter, which is almost as long as the first two combined. Coming up with chapter names is hard.

Levi was relieved to see that despite Izzy being popular at school, not many people had been invited to her birthday, no more than 20 people from what he could see. He guessed that her parents were somehow involved in this.

The short kid (shorter than Levi for once) with the buzz cut who had opened the door for them disappeared into the crowd of people without a word. Well, Levi’s group was rather intimidating. At least Hanji was in her paisley shirt, overalls and bright yellow combat boots.

“Food?” Hanji asked. The other three nodded in agreement. Farlan held him back, tugging on the sleeve of his leather jacket as Hanji and Erwin headed to the kitchen.

“What is it?” Levi furrowed his brow at the taller blond, who looked slightly nervous.

“I don’t think I’m gonna stick around. I don’t want her to feel like I’m imposing, I mean I thought there would be a load of people here but it looks like a small thing Levi, maybe she didn’t mean it when she said you could invite me…” He trailed off when he saw the expression on Levi’s face.

“Stop being a fucking idiot and get your ass to the kitchen. If she didn’t want me to invite you she would have said so. You might not know her that well but you know she wouldn’t keep shit like that bottled up.”

“I know, I just…I don’t want to fuck this up.” Farlan said as he ran his hand through hair he had obviously spent a while styling. Levi raised an eyebrow.

“Fucking hell you’re whipped.”

“Fuck off Levi.”

“There’s the Farlan Church we all know and hate.”

Their childish spat was interrupted by a small figure latching themselves onto Levi.

“Levii! You made it!” Izzy detached herself and beamed up at him, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright.

“Are you… _drunk_?” He asked her, surprise in his usually deadpan voice.

“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ around her painted cherry red lips. “Just a little bit tipsy.” She grinned as she looked up at Farlan. “Farlan! Hey!” She launched herself at him and gave him a hug.

When she pulled back she seemed to realise what she had done, her face reddening as she looked down, red locks falling in front of her face. One look at Farlan and Levi rolled his eyes, the two were practically mirror images with their flushed cheeks and lowered eyes. Levi looked back at Izzy.

“Happy Birthday Izzy.” He said and then properly looked at her. “You look erm, different.” He added awkwardly. _Fuck if I know how to give a compliment._ Izzy raised an eyebrow at him, a small smile threatening to break through.

Farlan rested an elbow on Levi’s shoulder, seemingly recovered from his bout of awkwardness.

“I think what Levi is trying to do is compliment you. You look really nice.” He said as he took in the way her hair, which was usually tied up, fell about her face in soft waves, the golden glimmer of her eyeshadow brightening those already luminous green eyes. Levi tried not to vomit at the love-struck expression on Farlan’s face.

“Thank you,” Izzy said softly, before her smile grew into a mischievous grin. “Yeah I know, Levi has a very _unique_ way of complimenting people.”

Levi huffed. “Fuck you guys, I’m getting food.” He stalked off as Farlan and Izzy snickered. They knew he didn’t mind the teasing. He headed into the kitchen and spotted Hanji and Erwin hovering around the plates of food lined up on the counters.

“So how’s the matchmaking coming along?” Erwin asked as he nibbled on a slice of pizza.

“Hmf?” Hanji swallowed her mouthful and looked at Levi. “Who’s matchmaking who?”

Erwin nodded in the direction from which Levi had come from. Levi waited and watched as Hanji’s searching gaze landed on the two, who were now engaged in conversation.

She squealed and grabbed Levi’s shoulders. “Did you set them up?”

“Not really. They just have shit for brains and needed some shoving in the right direction.”

Hanji cackled at him and Levi dodged a spray of chewed up pizza.

“Our very own matchmaker. You should start up a business, Mama Levi.”

Levi choked on his drink and chased Hanji round the kitchen before she used a laughing Erwin as shield to hide behind.

After giving Hanji a good noogie to the head and indulging in some more extra-cheesy pizza (no one could fault Izzy’s choice) the three of them decided it was time to do a bit of socialising (okay maybe Levi wasn’t 100% involved in this decision).

They headed out into the living room where there were numerous chairs scattered about, Izzy and Farlan had occupied two of them and were still engaged in conversation. The coffee table and sofa had been pushed up against the walls, leaving the floor open for dancing space.

“Levi!” Levi looked over in surprise at Armin who was waving him over.

“Hey kid, I didn’t know you hung out with Izzy.”

“Yep, we’re in quite a few classes together, how come you do?”

“I’m her French tutor.” He heard someone clear their throat and looked back at Hanji and Erwin who were waiting to be introduced.

Levi motioned to them. “This is the shitty-duo.”

“You still refer to us as that?” Erwin asked exasperatedly.

“What do you mean _still_? Last I checked you were still shitty.”

“Well he did say you were both pretty smart so it can’t be that bad?” Armin added. Levi glared at him as Hanji flung an arm round his shoulders and gave him a side-hug.

“Aw Levi, you think we’re smart?”

“Get off me shitty-glasses.”

“Excuse his vocabulary.” Erwin said to Armin who was watching the exchange with amusement.

“Oh, I’m used to it now.” He said cheekily.

“He’s my English tutor.” Levi explained to them and then turned back to Armin. “This is Hanji and Erwin. Good luck getting rid of them.”

“It’s great to meet ya Armie!” Hanji said as she grabbed the short blonde’s hand and began shaking it excitedly. Armin raised an eyebrow at Levi and mouthed _Armie?_ Levi shrugged. Poor kid didn’t know what had been unleashed on him.

“Erm, likewise?” He said as he extracted his hand from Hanji’s death grip.

“I’m looking forward to reading Levi’s work after you’re done with him.”

“Fuck you shitty eyebrows.”

“Oh is _he_ who you were referring to when you mentioned caterpillars?”

Hanji cackled and Erwin rolled his eyes.

“Hey it’s you!” They all turned to look as Eren approached them, his eyes on Levi.

“Yes?” He said, looking back at the kid quizzically.

“Don’t you remember me? I’m Eren.” He practically yelled over the music, motioning to himself.

“Of course I remember you, brat. No one would forget a right hook that shitty.”

Eren scowled, Armin rolled his eyes and Erwin and Hanji turned to look at Levi.

“Right hook?” Hanji asked.

“Levi, you said you weren’t getting into fights anymore.” Erwin reprimanded, folding his arms.

“He threw a punch at me thank you very fucking much-“

“It was a misunderstanding, I thought you were attacking Armin!”

“I was teaching him a few moves.” Levi explained. “Besides, the last time I punched someone was when that dickhead wouldn’t leave Izzy alone.”

“ _Who_ wouldn’t leave Izzy alone?” Eren demanded, those bright eyes of his almost looking manic.

“None of your business, brat.”

“Excuse _you_ , Izzy’s my cousin so it is all of my business. And stop calling me brat.”

“ _You’re_ related to Izzy?”

“Why the fuck are saying that like I’m some sort of disease?”

“I don’t know kid, do you wash your hands before you leave the shitter?”

Someone cleared their throat. Very loudly. It almost sounded painful. Levi and Eren looked away from each other and to the other three who were standing and watching, varying expressions of amusement of their faces.

“Can you believe this is only the second time they’ve met?” Armin said, looking at the other two.

“Oh? How was the first time?” Erwin asked, trying to supress a smile.

“Well it started off with an attempted punch so…”

“As entertaining as this is, we are at a party and I want to dance!” Hanji yelled, pulling the two blondes into the mass of dancing bodies.

“Hanji I don’t think-“

“Eren and Levi, they’ll-“

Armin and Erwin’s voices were lost as they disappeared into the small crowd.

Levi and Eren glanced at each other and then looked away abruptly. Eren sniffed. Levi sighed, remembering Armin’s words.

“Look kid I say shit and it comes out shitty. But I don’t mean it to be shitty. It just…comes out that way.”

Levi tried to ignore the stare boring into the side of his face but relented after a few moments. Eren stared down at him, blinking slowly.

“Is that supposed to be an apology?”

“Yes.” Levi said tersely.  

“Oh.” He thought about it for a few moments, lips pursed. “So you don’t think I’m a disease?”

“I didn’t actually say you were.” Eren ignored him.

“And I don’t have alien eyes?”

Levi shuffled awkwardly, he’d never tell him he actually thought his eyes were quite beautiful.

“You don’t. They’re just freakishly bright. In a good way.” He said haltingly.

“And I’m not a brat?”

“No, you most definitely are a brat.” Levi smirked at the pout on Eren’s face (and quickly shut down the voice in his head telling him it was cute).

“Fine then. You’re a grumpy old man.”

“Fine.”

Levi folded his arms and looked up at the kid who was practically beaming at him, the dim lights of the living room reflecting on those gold, green eyes and giving them a soft warmth that may have made his heart flutter. _What the fuck?_

There was a lull in the music as the song ended and a new one started up. Eren groaned.

“I hate this fucking song.” He whined. Levi raised an eyebrow.

“I thought everyone liked it.” The catchy beat of Hotline Bling was starting up and there were a few excited yells from the crowd.

“I used to. Even though it is a bit misogynistic in my opinion,” Eren said, and Levi raised an eyebrow in surprise, “But then fucking horseface-“

“Jaeger!” A kid with an odd two-toned haircut marched over to them with a huge grin on his face.

“Here we fucking go.” Eren mumbled as two-tone began making odd movements with his hands. Levi frowned.

“Is he having a fit?” Levi asked. Eren burst out into laughter and two-tone scowled at the both of them.

“Have you not seen Hotline Bling?” He asked, folding his arms.

“I have.”

“It’s the dance from the video.”

“Didn’t look like it.”

“Who is this shorty?” Two-tone asked Eren, who pursed his lips and looked over at Levi who had a thin eyebrow raised unimpressively.

“Erm, Jean, this is Levi-”

“Wait, _you’re_ Levi? As in the Levi Eren won’t shut up about?”

“Kirstein-” Eren said warningly.

“Dude, when he first saw you fight he _would not stop going on about you_. Even Mikasa got bored of it. Say where is Mikasa? I thought she’d be here-“

“Eren.” Levi said, with his eyes on Jean, missing out on Eren’s embarrassed flush. “You were right. He does have a horseface.”

Eren guffawed and Jean scowled and stormed off with a _fuck you guys_ and mumbling about how his dancing was under appreciated. He and Levi exchanged glances and snickered.

“So, Levi,” Eren said, scratching the back of his head. “Does this mean we’ve called a truce?” He grinned playfully at his elder. Levi huffed.

“I guess so.”

Eren stretched out a hand for him to shake.

“Tch, you just put that hand in your greasy hair, no way am I touching it.” Levi folded his arms as an extra precaution. Eren frowned slightly. _Well there you go, fucking things up agai-_

The brat started laughing at him. “You know, I think I’m starting to understand you a bit Levi.”

Levi raised an eyebrow and side-eyed him. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Well, you’re still a grumpy old man but you’re a grumpy old man who’s a clean freak with a potty mouth.” Levi snorted and pursed his lips to suppress a smile.

“Is that so?”

“Yep. It’s almost,” He looked to the ceiling, trying to remember a word. “Oxymoronic. That’s the word.”

“Well would you look at that, your vocabulary surpasses that of a three year old.”

“Yeah well, I’m not the one who has Armin tutoring me am I?”

“From what I’ve heard, he just didn’t have enough patience to tutor you.”

“Damn it, he told you that?”

“What did you do? That kid has the patience of a saint.”

Eren sighed. “I committed the worst crime in his eyes.” He said dramatically, his bright eyes wide. Levi raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “I ripped a book.”

“Why the fuck would you rip a book?”

“It was frustrating me! It was a stupid book.”

“What book was it?”

“Wuthering Heights.” Eren mumbled, looking at the floor. Levi snorted and Eren looked back up at him in surprise.

“I fucking hate that book.” Levi said smirking.

“It’s so fucking annoying right! But Armin is all, ‘no Eren, it’s a classic!’ Blah blah fucking blah.”

“At least I didn’t rip it though.”

“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Levi shrugged and the two continued to bicker for a few minutes before settling into conversation. It was mainly Eren prattling on about how he didn’t care too much for literature, he wanted to study marine biology at university so it wasn’t that important for him anyway.

Inevitably, he soon began to question Levi about kickboxing, when he started, what belt he was wearing and whether he wanted to seriously compete.

“Jeez kid, if you’re so damn interested in it why don’t you just join?” Levi asked exasperatedly. Eren mumbled something incoherently and Levi remembered Armin mentioning how he wasn’t allowed to. _Insensitive_ _idiot._ “We’ll be starting competitions soon, will you be coming?”

Eren smiled at him, tilting his head slightly to the side, eyes warm. Levi clenched his jaw. _What is this brat doing to me?_

“Eren! Levi!” They both looked up at Hanji and realised that everyone seemed to be heading to the dining room. “It’s cake time!”

“Cake!” Eren yelled excitedly and ran off. Levi rolled his eyes and approached a grinning Hanji.

“So,” She began. “I see you’ve made another new friend Levi.”

"And?"

“Nothing!” She sang, skipping after the others. Another eye roll.

The dining room was just a long table that seated six people, apparently Isabel’s mother was very insistent upon having a room set aside for eating, to keep the rest of the house clean. She knew though that Isabel liked to eat pizza in front of the TV and would occasionally cast a blind eye to the plates she’d find in her bedroom. Occasionally.

Isabel sat at the head of the table, a large red velvet cake in front of her dotted with candles. Eren was kneeling next to her, fidgeting excitedly, and everyone else was huddled round, phones at the ready as they sang her happy birthday. Levi mumbled along, despite Erwin raising a magnificent eyebrow at him.

She blew out the candles, grinning as she cut the first slice. A small blonde girl got the paper plates ready and passed round slices as they were cut up.

“I’m really sorry Iz, but it’s tradition you know?” Eren said to his cousin, something suspicious about the way his eyes were gleaming.

“Huh?” Izzy said, her mouth full of cake.

Eren launched forward, squashing his cake onto Izzy’s face and smearing it everywhere. Jean cheered loudly with shorty buzz cut and the giant blond gorilla, the freckled kid with them shaking his head. A brunette was practically crying.

“Ereeeeen!! How could you waste the cake like that! I could’ve eaten it!”

“Sasha, you’ve already eaten two slices.” A taller girl with a bitch-face that could rival Levi’s pointed out.

“Eren I’m going to kill you!” Izzy mumbled through the giant gloop of cake on her face. She wiped it off and wrinkled her nose. She quickly wiped it off on Eren’s face who practically squawked.  

“FOOD FIGHT!” Hanji yelled, splatting cake onto Armin and Erwin’s faces, who had been standing on either side of her. Isabel was rubbing cake on Farlan’s face and into Eren’s hair simultaneously. Eren was stuffing cake down Jean’s shirt and buzz-cut was jumping up, trying to get cake on the blonde gorilla’s face but failing. He then turned to do so to Levi but decided not to upon seeing that flinty stare.

“No! Stop!” It wasn’t Izzy who protested but Sasha, mourning the loss of the red velvet cake that seemed to only be missing from Levi’s face. And the small blonde girl, who was hidden in the arms of Bitch-face.

“Sasha.” Buzz cut said seriously, before rubbing the remnants of his cake into her hair. 

“Connie you dick-wad!” She yelped, jabbing him in the gut.

“Alright, alright!” Izzy got out from her seat, “Everyone clean up and then it’s time for karaoke!”

“Yes!” The small blonde said excitedly.

“Alright, I guess Krista gets the first song.” Izzy said. “Now get your asses clean, if I see a spot of icing on the floor you’re all toast.” She warned menacingly.

***

It took approximately half an hour for everyone to get cleaned up, mainly because Eren and Jean starting fighting over who would use the bathroom first, using the remnants of cake left on them to wipe onto each others faces, paying no mind to Marco who was trying to pull them apart. Armin slipped by them and spent a good ten minutes in there instead. He was a sneaky one. Levi managed to learn the names of nearly everyone there, mainly because he was in charge (voluntarily) of cleaning the mess.

Krista was fidgeting excitedly beside Ymir on the sofa, which had pushed back so that it was facing the TV which had been setup.

“Are you sure I can go first?” She asked, her blue eyes wide. She looked like a Disney princess or something.

“Yeah, I mean she’s actually a good singer. I say Reiner goes first. That way the bar is set so low no one will feel embarrassed.” Connie said, sitting on the armrest of the chair occupied by Reiner and Sasha.

“Hey!” Reiner whined, jutting his lower lip out.

“Aww, sorry Ri-ri.” Connie leaned over and ruffled his hair.

“So Reiner first yeah?” Izzy said, looking round at everyone nodding in agreement.

He ended up singing ‘Only Girl in the World’. Levi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Hanji chose both and cried with laughter when he tried to hit those high notes, dropping her head onto Levi’s lap and stretching her feet out over Armin’s lap.

Erwin went next, singing Michael Buble’s rendition of ‘Sway’. Levi rolled his eyes at how good he was, he told Levi he often had to sing at family Christmas parties, so it wasn’t a surprise really.

“You have to do a duet with me one day!” Krista said as she got ready, picking ‘Love Me Like You Do’ by Ellie Goulding. Levi was surprised, he had been expecting a Disney song, not one from a shitty film about BDSM. Armin laughed at his expression.

“Never judge a book by its cover!” He said laughingly, as Krista began singing in a low, husky voice. She really was a good singer, and Levi was warming up to the song.

Until she was song-crashed.

Eren, Jean and Izzy decided to jump up during the chorus belting out the lyrics, and obviously Hanji followed with Connie, Reiner and Sasha.

“LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO LA-LA-LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO!”

Krista had to stop singing as she was laughing too much.

“TOUCH ME LIKE YOU DO, TO-TO-TOUCH ME LIKE YOU DO!”

Obviously with this line came the ridiculous dance moves where everyone slid their hands over their bodies and made bedroom eyes at each other. Eren just shoved Jean who fell into Connie who then grabbed him and started dancing with him.

Those who were sitting down were either laughing, or watching with the expression of someone waiting for something bad to happen. Unless you were Farlan, who couldn’t take his eyes off of Izzy’s swaying form. The song came to an end and everyone flopped back into their seat to catch their breath.

“My mum loves that song.” Izzy said, leaning her head back.

“So does mine.” Eren chirped.

“What is with mothers and their taste in music?” Levi mumbled. Armin glanced over at him and looked away so that Levi didn’t see the slow smile spreading across his face as he leaned over and whispered to Erwin.

Levi was too distracted by Izzy and Eren’s tale of how their mothers went together to watch Fifty Shades of Grey to notice Erwin beckon Hanji over.

“My turn!” Hanji skipped over and selected her song.

“I swear Hanji, if you butcher Bohemian Rhapsody again I’ll never forgive you.” His eyes widened as she started her song.

_No._

“Out on the wily, windy moors-” She began, her voice cracking as she tried to match the high pitch of the song. Her gleaming eyes fit the role perfectly though.

Levi turned his head so quickly to look at Armin he was surprised his neck didn’t crack.

“ _You_.” He said, narrowing his eyes at the two blondes who choking on their restrained laughter. Levi looked back at Hanji, who had now reached the chorus and was extending her limbs in some odd dance, the rest of the party cheering her on. Levi snorted and looked over as Eren approached him.

“There’s a fucking _song_ about Wuthering Heights?”

“Tell me about it.”

***

It was way past midnight when Izzy turned off the TV, claiming that she had to get the house tidy before her parents got home. She was nicely surprised when everyone offered to stick around to help, automatically looking to Levi for guidance.

They hadn’t made too much of the mess, seeing as most of it had come from the cake fight which they had already sorted out. Everyone left in the groups they came with and the house gradually emptied.

“Eren you’re staying over right?” Armin confirmed as he wrapped a scarf round his neck. He had borrowed his grandpa’s car to drive him and said he’d drop off Erwin seeing as it was on his way home. Levi shuddered at the thought of the potential the two of those brains had for evil.

“Levi are you sure you don’t wanna stay?” Izzy asked. “I could always call your mum up and ask.”

“I still don’t understand how the fuck you got my mother’s number.”

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

“How original of you.”

“Hey Izzy can you forward me her number? I feel like she should know about Levi’s progress with tutoring.” Armin said innocently.

“You most fucking definitely cannot.” Levi said, narrowing his eyes at the kid. Armin chuckled and moved forward to hug Eren and Izzy goodbye before leaving with Erwin.

“Hurry the fuck up shit glasses!” Levi yelled. The sound of a flushing toilet was heard and a few moments Hanji appeared. “What, were you taking a shit? You’d better have washed your hands.” He asked, ignoring the others laughing at him.

Hanji gasped in indignation. “I would never shit in another person's house!”

“You’ve shit in mine. And Erwin’s.” Levi grumbled.

Hanji guffawed. “Oh my god, do you remember that? I-”

“What is with you guys and talking about shit?” Farlan said, folding his arms.

“I guess they have a shitty sense of humour. Literally and figuratively.” Eren grinned at his pun.

“Oh Eren! That’s a good one!” Hanji said excitedly.

“Alright,” Farlan said, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on. “We should get going.”

“Oh, wait, I don’t have your numbers.” Hanji exclaimed, grabbing her phone from the pocket of her overalls. She passed it round and looked at Levi expectantly.

“What? I have your number.”

“Do you have _everyone’s?_ ” She asked, her face way too close to his for comfort. He shoved it away and looked over at Eren who gave him a small smile. Levi sighed and handed him his phone, holding his hand out expectantly and entering his number into Eren’s. He was about put ‘Levi’ as the name, but remembered their earlier conversation. He went with ‘Grumpy old man’ instead and gave the brat back his phone.

Later, when Levi got home and was going through his contact list, he frowned as couldn’t find Eren’s name under E. He ended up scrolling through the whole list (it wasn’t that long), smiling to himself when he saw a new message pop-up from a one ‘Alien eyes’.

_\- Night old man ;D_

_\- Go to sleep brat._

_Not bad,_ Levi thought, as he drifted off into the blissful embrace of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If finding food at a party isn't the first thing you do, you need to sort out your priorities (said in nerdy Hermione Granger voice).
> 
> Believe it or not, I actually don't mind Wuthering Heights, it's just a very intense book. I might read it again. I just think that Levi and Eren with their straight forward nature wouldn't relate to the characters.
> 
> Let me know if you spot any errors!


	4. Bertolt the meme-maker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi is a bit of a health freak and the history of Oblivious Eren is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't as long as the last one - I wanted to put something up before the week started and all my classes properly begin. A lot of dialogue, yet again. 
> 
> Ya know, for someone who claims to be shitty at writing dialogue, I sure write a lot of it.

“Are you relieved?” Mike asked him as they headed off to lunch. They had just been stopped by Coach Shadis in the corridor outside their History classroom.

“Relieved about what?” Levi replied, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag.

“That I won’t be kicking your sorry arse in the competition.”

“Tch.” Levi rolled his eyes and Mike snickered, his breath causing the mop of hair covering his face to float up.

Coach had told Mike that now he was 18, he wasn’t allowed to participate in the under 18s kickboxing competitions, so he had taken the liberty of entering him into the next level up. Although Levi would turn 18 during the competitions throughout the year, Shadis had told him that he was still eligible to participate in the under 18s group.

“Last I checked, we were at a tie.” Levi said, practically craning his neck to look up at the giant.

“We’ll continue it this week then.”

“Remember Shadis said we’d be paired up with lower ranks this week.”

“You chickening out?”

“Fuck off you tree.”

“Wow. Those tutoring sessions are really paying off.”

“Who told you about those?”

Levi made out a raised eyebrow through the dirty-blonde locks and huffed impatiently.

“That shitty eyebrows.” He mumbled.

“Actually, it was Hanji. She was telling me about the new friends you seem to have made. On your own as well. She’s very proud of you.”

Levi scowled as they headed into the canteen, mumbling about interfering shits.

“Have fun at the kiddy table.” Mike said, as he went off to join the queue for food. Levi raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Levi!”

He turned to the sound of Hanji’s voice to find her and Erwin, not at their usual table but at one with some of the kids he had met at the party. He looked back at Mike who was smirking at him from the salad bar and rolled his eyes before heading off to sit with them.

Hanji pulled out a seat next to her and Eren, who was beaming at him and fidgeting in his seat.

“What, do you need to take a shit?” He asked. Hanji snorted and Erwin rolled his eyes before turning back to Armin. Levi heard them mentioning the student council, the elections were next week and Erwin was obviously running for president again.

“Huh?” Eren did that infuriating head tilt which Levi’s inner voice kept insisting was cute.

“You keep on twitching in your seat like your trying to hold it in.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “I’m just a fidgety person.”

“Sure.” Levi pursed his lips at the sulk on the brat’s face, instead searching around in his bag for his lunch, which consisted of a very basic cheese and salad sandwich, a cereal bar and some fruit, all packed neatly into a plastic box so it wouldn’t get squashed in his bag.

“You’re always so healthy Levi.” Hanji said, biting into her burger she bought from the canteen, and Levi curled his nose up at the mix of ketchup and mayonnaise that spilled out.

“Yeah well, I’d rather not clog my arteries with all that artificial shit.”

“Hey, artificial shit tastes good.” Sasha protested, her mouth full of whatever it was she was eating.

“Tell me that when you go on to develop Type 2 diabetes.”

Sasha swallowed her food, eyes wide and fearful. Connie snickered at her expression, stealing a French fry from her plate.

“She doesn’t even exercise, she just has a crazy metabolism.” Ymir said. Levi raised an eyebrow at the brunette who had gone back to stuffing her face with food, shielding her plate from a laughing Connie.

“You should at _least_ exercise if you’re gonna eat all this shit.” He said, motioning to the plates overflowing with fries, pizza and various sweet foods. “The school even has a damn salad bar.”

“Levi, not all of us are too keen on waking up at 6am to go for a run. Or cycle to and from school everyday.” Erwin said in a reprimanding tone.

“Why would you do that?” Eren asked, almost horrified at the prospect of waking up any earlier than necessary.

“It helps build stamina for kickboxing.” Levi said simply, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“It can help build stamina for other things too.” Jean added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Marco rolled his eyes as Connie, Reiner and a kid with a height that could rival Mike’s (he was later introduced as Bertolt, or Bertl. Levi was grateful he didn’t extend his hand to shake, the kid looked like he had some serious perspiring issues. Puberty sure was a bitch. Unless you were Erwin Smith) began laughing at the innuendo. The others hid their snickers behind food or sighed exasperatedly at Jean. Levi could tell this was an everyday occurrence.  

Levi rolled his eyes at their antics and looked over at Eren, who was looking at Jean with a confused expression on his face.

“What is it Eren?” Jean asked, a wide smile on his face. Eren frowned.

“You don’t get it do you?” Ymir asked, a smirk on her lips. Levi felt like he was missing out on something.

“Oblivious Eren strikes again!” Connie cried out.

“Fuck off you guys!” Eren whined, dropping his head onto the table. Levi pulled him up by his collar, muttering something about germs. Marco sighed.

“It’s a sex innuendo Eren.” He explained. Eren frowned slightly before a light flush painted his cheeks.

“O-oh!” He said before scowling at Jean who was still laughing at him.

“Is oblivious Eren a thing then?” Hanji asked, looking around the group. Krista nodded.

“Yep. Bertolt even made a meme for it.” She said, looking over at said male. Reiner gave him a slap on the back, grinning as the force of it made Bertolt jolt forward.

“Bertolt is the meme maker of the group.”

“But wait, we have to explain how it started.” Connie said, leaning forward and eyes gleaming. Sasha snorted.

“Do you remember it-” She said laughing.

“Guys.” Marco said warningly.

“Aw come on Marco,” Jean leaned his head on the freckled boy’s shoulder. “It’s all in good fun. Right Eren?” He looked over at Eren who folded his arms and turned away with a loud harrumph.

“Anyway,” Connie began and Hanji fidgeted excitedly. She always liked a good story. Levi tried not to seem too interested as he finished off eating his lunch. “It was like, this time last year and Mina from Eren’s maths class asks him if he wants to go to Pixis' café after school.”

“Now,” Sasha continues, “We have knowledge from Krista and Hannah, that she was asking him out on a date and that she had been working up the courage to do so for a while.”

“Lord knows why.” Jean muttered under his breath, ignoring the death glare Eren shot his way.

“So, Eren agrees. And they go to the café and eat and whatever and Mina mentions that they should do this again sometime. And Eren agrees again.” Connie says. Back to Sasha. Levi could tell that this was a story that had been told several times.

“This then becomes a weekly thing. The two of them head off to the café every Friday. Everyone knows about it. Everyone thinks they’re dating.”

“It’s not my fault Pixis does weekly specials.” Eren muttered under breath. Levi smirked at the flush that was still present on his face.

“I didn’t think they were. Neither did Mikasa.” Armin chirps up.

“Where is Mikasa?” Krista asked. Levi was curious, her name seemed to pop up in every conversation.

“She’s in the library, she’s got a Physics test next period.” Eren mumbled sulkily.

“Is Annie with her?” Reiner asked. Eren rolled his eyes and gave him a look as if to say, _what do you think?_

“Anyway,” Connie says loudly, “One day, Mina asks Eren if she can hold his hand,” Connie continues on with the story.

“And he said, I quote,” Sasha added, “Why not? It’s cold.”

“It was!” Eren protested. “I always hold hands with people when it’s cold.”

The table murmured in agreement. Levi tried not to think too hard about that piece of information.

“Okay, so they’ve advanced onto hand holding,” Sasha continues, “And then I overhear Mina asking Mikasa about whether or not Eren is affectionate. Seeing as they’ve been ‘dating’ for a month and all he’s done is hug her or hold her hand when the weather is cold.”

Everyone begins to snicker and Levi can feel the climax of the story approaching.

“Now, we all know Mikasa can be blunt, but the ice-queen doesn’t have the heart to tell gentle Mina that Eren is completely unaware about the relationship he is currently in. So instead she advises Mina to be as straightforward as possible with him.” Connie says, his mouth twitching as he tries to hold back laughter.

“So Mina goes up to Eren and asks him what they are. We’ll act it out.” Sasha says and turns to Connie. “Say Eren, what exactly are we?” Connie’s face transforms into an expression identical to the confused one Eren wore earlier, ignoring Eren’s protests that it _most definitely did not look like me_.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Like,” Sasha says, twirling strands of hair around her fingers and looking shyly at the ground. “What do I call you? If I was to introduce you to someone?”

Connie’s confused expression turned into an amused grin. “You’d call me Eren of course.”

There were several guffaws at this and Ymir told Reiner and Jean, who were trying not to cry, to shut up.

Sasha rolled her eyes, still in character. Levi had to give it to them, they were very good at this.

“I know that, silly, but like would I call you my boyfriend or…?” Sasha turned her big hazel eyes to Connie who was now demonstrating Eren’s infamous head tilt. Once again Levi ignored the inner voice telling him it was nowhere near as cute as the real life thing.

“What do you mean like, I’m your friend who’s a boy? Sure if you wanna. But are you sure Thomas won’t mind?” Connie said chirpily. Jean and Reiner didn’t bother holding in their laughter and Hanji let a few chuckles loose. Even Erwin was smiling, his conversation about voting strategies put on hold.

“Thomas?” Sasha asked, her eyebrow raised. She turned to the rest of them, whispering dramatically. “This is where she started realising something wasn’t quite right.”

“Yeah, you and Thomas. I’m surprised he hasn’t come to threaten me already.” Connie said jokingly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Hey, it was a legitimate concern. _You_ thought they were going out too.” They both ignored his comment and carried on.

“Eren, you don’t think Thomas and I are _together_ do you?” Connie chuckled at Sasha’s wide-eyed expression.

“Everyone does! It’s common knowledge.”

Sasha’s face dropped and she closed her eyes slowly. “Eren, everyone thinks _we’re_ together. _I_ think we’re together…” Her lower lip wobbled. “At least, I thought.”

“And then the penny finally dropped and Mina started crying, the poor girl, she was smitten with the dork and then _he_ started crying-”

“Eren started crying?” Hanji asked between bouts of laughter.

“Yeah, he said he felt so bad that he had misled her. She forgave him pretty much on the spot though, it was easy to see he meant no spite. That and he bought in homemade apology cookies for her the next day.” Marco said, smiling kindly at Eren.

“And then he went on a rage mission to hunt down everyone who didn’t tell him he apparently had a girlfriend for the past month.” Jean added, wiping at his eyes.

“He didn’t talk to me or Mikasa for two days.” Armin said, almost wistfully. “The most peaceful two days of our lives.” He said.

“Armin don’t lie, you baked me a cake to get me to talk to you again.” Eren said, his arms still folded, his lower lip jutted out as the others were still laughing at him. “I _still_ don’t think I did anything wrong. If someone wants to ask someone else on a date, they should say it’s a damn date to get rid of any confusion.”

“Are you sure that’ll be enough?” Reiner asked cheekily.

“You guys are bullies.” Eren mumbled.

“The brat’s right.” Levi said suddenly, and almost immediately regretted it as all eyes turned to him. “What? People should be straightforward. Why has everyone got to be so fucking mysterious nowadays? If you like someone you tell them.” He tried not to look at Eren, who was currently beaming at him.

“Of course Levi. I forgot how skilled you were in the art of communicating your feelings to people.” Erwin said, his mouth curving into a mischievous smile to match the gleam in his eyes. Hanji guffawed and Armin hid his snort behind his hand.

“Oh my _god,_ Erwin do you remember when Paddy had a crush on Levi when we were younger?”

“Who’s Paddy?” Jean asked.

“A dumb shit.” Levi said as he shoved Hanji’s face into Erwin’s shoulder to stop her from blabbing. No such luck. The shitty duo were in their prime.

“Patrick was in our class, everyone called him Paddy. He was a really nice guy and kept on trying to give things to Levi. Food, his homework, he even offered to _do_ his homework for him.”

“Typical signs of affection.” Hanji managed to say from Erwin’s shoulder.

“Typical signs of a dumb shit.” Levi mumbled, picking the imaginary pieces of dust off his uniform and trying not to look at anyone.

“And then when Paddy musters up enough courage to tell Levi that he likes him, Levi turns and says-”

“Why the fuck would you go and do something like that?” Hanji says, eyes narrow and face solemn in an attempt at impersonating Levi. Levi shot an icy glare at anyone who tried to laugh. Which unfortunately was nearly the entire table.

“Paddy cried. But Levi didn’t.” Erwin said sadly.

“I offered him a tissue.”

“A true gentleman.” Hanji gasped, clutching at her chest. Levi huffed impatiently.

“What? I wasn’t gonna fucking _lie_ to him and tell him I felt the same.”

“You could have let him down more gently.” Armin said, clearly trying to laugh.

“Or cried with him.” Jean snorted.

“Fuck off horseface.” Eren said, pouting as the napkin he had attempted to throw at Jean fluttered pitifully back onto the table.

“Don’t pout so much you look like a duck.” Levi said. Eren scowled at him as Jean began to chuckle.

“I do not!”

“Wow, a duck _and_ a horse. We’ve nearly got ourselves a farm.” Ymir said sardonically. Levi snorted and watched as both Jean and Eren turned on her. She gave a small smile and wrapped her arm around the back of Krista’s chair.

The rest of lunch passed in a similar manner, food being stolen, insults casually thrown and plots made for school domination. The bell rang and the sound of chairs scraping against linoleum filled the space as they all readied themselves for an afternoon of classes.

“You should sit with us again Levi!” Eren said as they headed out with the stream of students into the hallway. Levi shrugged off the arm he had thrown around his shoulders, denying the urge he had to lean into the warmth.

“No fucking way.” He blurted, “You guys are exhausting.”

“You’re such an old man.” He huffed, but Levi was glad to see his eyes bright with amusement.

“That’s Levi, our resident grump.” Hanji butted in, ruffling his hair and pulling him into a side-hug.

“Fuck _off_ shitty glasses.” He said, shoving her away. She fell into Jean and clung onto his shoulders, demanding that he carry her to class. Jean looked bewildered and turned to Marco for help, the freckled-boy grinning as he backed away. Levi looked up at Eren’s laughter and the two fell into their usual bickering as they headed off to class.

Settling down next to Farlan in French class, Levi tried not to think too hard about how Eren was at the perfect height to rest his arm on Levi’s shoulders. Or about how that brat seemed to be occupying a lot of his thoughts ever since he had (literally) charged into his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT IS IT EREN?
> 
> I wrote this in like, one sitting so I hope it is not too shitty. 
> 
> I don't think Eren is dumb, I just think he's oblivious. Especially to things like romance. Levi you poor soul, what have you gotten yourself into?
> 
> I have no idea where this is going, I originally wanted it to be a one-shot but look at what has happened. I highly doubt it'll be more than 10 chapters though. 
> 
> Ymir has a special place in my heart. Especially after watching the snk high school anime, bless her sarcastic self. 
> 
> Be healthy guys - I am being a hypocrite with this but eat your five-a-day, get a good amount of sleep and don't drink too much caffeine and drink water. Levi may be a health freak but he's right. Balance is good. Take a walk every now and again. Do some stretches. (shia la boeuf voice): JUST DO IT.
> 
> As always, let me know if you spot any errors!


	5. Fajitas by the Dumpsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cats, fajitas and Mikasa. Basically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH, you guys and your comments are amazing!! Thank you so much, it is really motivating. I was trying so hard not to be a creep on the train smiling at my phone but you guys are just too much. Seriously, this is like my first multi-chaptered fic that I'm actually going to try and finish and not just abandon so the fact that I know people are enjoying it is lovely :)
> 
> The chapter title looks like it could be the name of an edgy-hipster band. If you use it, I fully expect royalties please and thank you.

Armin and Levi had come to the agreement to cancel the Friday’s tutoring lesson, seeing as there were no other days they could do it, and the glare Levi sent Armin for suggesting a double session on the Tuesday was enough for him to take back the idea.

Hanji and Erwin had taken to sitting with class 104 (they discovered they were all a part of the same registration class – Levi couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for their teacher) for the following few days. Levi had to seek refuge with Mike, Nanaba and Gelgar who all laughed at his expense. Suffice to say, the three left the canteen that day with bruised shins.

Otherwise, the week dragged on as normal (well, as normal as it could get with his group of growing friends) and Levi was looking forward to kickboxing that Thursday afternoon. _Just a few more hours_ , he told himself as he put his maths textbook away. He was about to head to lunch – his mum had made fajitas for dinner the night before and had put some aside for Levi to take for lunch before Uncle Kenny, the fat shit, ate them all (that was a lie, Kenny was 6”4 of wiry muscle. He resembled a daddy longlegs, or as Hanji liked to correct him, ‘pholcidae’, with his long loose limbs that were very good at sneaking into pots whilst his mother was cooking).

He had begun to head over to the canteen when he heard a strange noise. He paused and looked around the empty halls before continuing on his way.

“Psssssssttt.”

There it was again. Levi sighed, his shoulders slumping. All he wanted was to eat his damn fajitas. He spotted a mop of red hair peeking out from the corridor to the right.

“What the fuck do you want Izzy. If it’s to do your French homework again I swear I’ll-”

Izzy huffed and emerged to face him.

“You’re no fun Levi, you’re supposed to play along.”

“You just turned 17.”

“So? Hanji _so_ would’ve played along.”

Levi raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh whatever,” she said with a roll of her eyes, lunging forward to grab his forearm, “Just follow me.” She began to pull him, ignoring his protests, through various corridors, pushing open the doors that led to the back of the school.

“Izzy where the fuck are we going?” He asked, freeing his arm from her strong grip.

“It’s a surprise.”

They walked around the corner and were faced with six giant dumpsters.

“Fuck this.” Levi said, turning to leave. Izzy took a hold of his arm again.

“No Levi wait – I asked, they were emptied this morning,”

“What so you brought me here to show me what? Emptied dumpsters? I know Hanji calls me a clean freak Izzy but if this is-”

Izzy huffed. “No, just look.” She practically shoved him in between the last two dumpsters, where he almost fell onto an unsuspecting Eren Jaeger who had been sitting Indian-style on a piece of flat cardboard. With a kitten in his lap.

“Hi Levi.” Eren said chirpily, offering Levi a friendly smile. Levi looked down at the little grey kitten in his lap, its golden eyes wide. Next to Eren was a crate, where, Levi presumed, the mother was laying down, with another kitten buried into her side. The third kitten was plodding around, tail straight in the air and occasionally swatting at its sleeping sibling. The kitten in Eren’s lap mewled, breaking Levi out of his trance.

“You should call that one Eren.” He blurted out. Eren’s face turned into one of confusion and Izzy snorted, taking a seat on the cardboard and pulling one of the kittens out of the crate. The mother watched, her eyes alert.

“Huh?”

“It has bug eyes like you do.”

***

After Eren stopped sulking and Izzy stopped laughing, Levi took a seat beside the two, after examining the cardboard for any suspicious stains. They told him how they had heard mewing the other day and followed the noise to the dumpsters, tracking down a crate and ‘borrowing’ pieces of cloth from the textiles department to make them more comfortable.

“Why did you bring _me_ here?” Levi asked, fidgeting slightly on the cold ground and pulling his coat tighter around him.

“Your mum told me you liked cats.” She said, grinning cheekily.

“I think you talk to my mother more than I do.” He mumbled under his breath.

Izzy began cooing at the kitten in her hands. It was completely grey, apart from a white patch over its nose and mouth and its front right paw. “I’m gonna call you Patch.” She said, rubbing it behind the ears. Levi raised an eyebrow.

“How original.” Eren commented, rolling his eyes.

“Fine. You name the last one.” Izzy said haughtily, stroking Patch gently behind the ears.

“I can’t see its face,” Eren said, leaning over to peer into the crate. As if it knew they were talking about it, the kitten lifted its head up and turned its deep blue eyes to the three of them. It didn’t look very happy, almost as though it was frowning. “Oh my god.” Eren said quietly.

“What is it?” Izzy asked, looking up from Patch, letting out an ‘aww’ as she saw the new kitten.

“Levi Jr.” Eren stated, fixing Levi with a mischievous stare. Levi scowled back and Izzy cackled.

“Oh my god! It’s the cat version of you!” She crowed, squeaking as Levi poked her ribs.

Izzy leaned forward and placed the little fuzzball on his lap, where it immediately began to knead at Levi’s thigh, its claws pricking into his leg.

“What the fuck is it doing?” He asked, freezing up. He scowled as Eren and Izzy chuckled at him.

“That’s what they do when they wanna sleep.” Izzy explained.

“Aww Levi and Levi Jr. How picturesque.” Eren cooed, ignoring the glare sent his way. He wondered if it was a genetic thing, Izzy was also able to ignore his cold glares. Levi rolled his eyes instead and looked down at his namesake who had curled up at his abdomen and was once again, asleep. Levi’s mouth twitched as he tried not to smile. Instead he gently reached for his bag, careful not to jostle the sleeping creature and pulled out his lunch along with some much needed antibacterial hand gel.

“Ooh smells good Levi!” Izzy said, leaning forward to investigate his lunch.

“Hands.” Levi said, holding out the hand gel and waiting for Izzy to put Patch down into the crate before offering her outstretched palms to Levi. After he was sure she had thoroughly cleaned them, he motioned for Eren to do the same.

He looked mildly surprised and his mouth stretched into a grin as Levi watched him clean his hands.

“Good.” Levi said as he handed Eren and Izzy a fajita. If his mother ever left him food for lunch, he was always certain that she’d give him too much, especially when she knew he had kickboxing. Hanji and Erwin were usually the lucky recipients of his excess food but tough shit, they were missing out.

“Hmm this is really good.” Eren managed to say around a mouthful of chicken and peppers, sauce smeared around his mouth.

“Tch.” Levi tutted, pulling out a packet of tissues and throwing it at Eren, who grinned sheepishly at him.

Izzy pulled some of the chicken out of her fajita and threw it into the crate, smiling softly as she watched the mother sniff at it and then eat it up. Levi and Eren passed over a few pieces of chicken as well for her give.

“So, are you going to call up an animal shelter or what?” Levi asked them.

“Well the one Izzy and Marco used to volunteer at has closed temporarily for refurbishment.” Eren explained, wiping off his hands.

“And the closest one now is the next town over. So we’re gonna persuade our mums and see if we can take turns looking after them.” Izzy added.

“I would offer but our apartment has a no animals rule.” Levi said, looking down at the kitten on his lap who had woken up and was staring at him. He looked up at the others staring at him, almost in awe at his revealed kindness. “What?” He asked and then scowled at their shrugs. “Fuck you guys. It’s getting cold out, it won’t be good for them to stay here.”

He looked back down at the kitten and lifted his hand, watching as it lifted its head and followed the movement of his fingers. It craned up and sniffed at him and then licked his forefinger. Levi stiffened slightly and the kitten looked back at him, unimpressed. He huffed gently and placed his hand by its head, allowing a soft smile to form on his face at the ticklish sensation. A few moments later he noticed the silence and looked up at the other two who were watching him, their luminous eyes wide.

“What the fuck are you two looking at?” He demanded. Eren rolled his eyes and Izzy snickered.

“Way to ruin the moment Levi.” Eren muttered, whining as Levi flung a dirtied napkin at his head.

“What fucking moment.” He muttered, looking back at the kitten that was kneading into his thigh again, looking rather smug with itself.

What a little shit.

***

Following the eventful lunch, Levi managed to get through his last two classes (surviving an over-enthusiastic Hanji was always an event) before heading off to change.

The class sat on the mats in front of Shadis and waited for the last of the students to trickle in, explaining that Mr. Bozado had kept them a bit later in Spanish. Levi was glad he didn’t take the language, the man had a bad habit of either biting his tongue, or showering his students in spittle whilst trying to prevent himself from removing the appendage.

“Right,” Shadis’ booming voice echoed throughout the space and everyone straightened up. “This week I’ll be pairing you up with a student who is either a few levels above or below you. You need to get used to facing various partners and adjusting to their attacks. Otherwise you become complacent.”

He then proceeded to list off names and their partners. Having a surname beginning with ‘A’ meant that Levi was one of the first to be called.

“Levi Arloit and Mikasa Ackerman.” Shadis called out. Ackerman? She had the same surname as his mother and Kenny? What were odds that he would be paired with the infamous Mikasa _and_ that she had the same surname as his family.

Shadis was done with the list in a few minutes, there were only 20 or so students in the class. Fortunately, the total number today was even and no one had to partner up with the coach. Levi almost saw a look of disappointment on the wrinkled face.

Everyone stood up and partnered off, finding a mat to stand on. Levi glanced over at Mikasa (who he regretfully noticed was taller than him), who was also checking him out from the side. Her hair was black and sleek, pulled back from her face into a tight bun, revealing a pale face and dark, slanted eyes. He figured that as the older more ‘experienced’ student, he ought to initiate the conversation.

“Ackerman.” He said, giving her a nod as he turned to face her after Shadis had given them instructions.

“Arloit.” She replied, almost teasingly, with a small curve to her lips. Levi huffed in amusement. He then began to ask her about what level she was at. She wasn’t too far behind him but claimed she needed to fix up more on tightening her stances.

Levi helped her through a few of them, demonstrating and the fixing up an arm here and a leg there when she followed. Levi had to hand it to her, she was a quick learner.

“Shall we spar?” Levi asked, taking a position facing her. Her eyes glinted.

“Sure.”

They started out slow, it was no contact after all today, and Levi began to sneak in a few jabs and feints here and there to test her reflexes. It wasn’t anything serious and he definitely wasn’t going to grab her into a headlock anytime soon. He had a feeling that she noticed he was going easy on her as she would sometimes strike out to catch him off guard and force him to perform more complex moves on her. He tried a few on her and watched her study him, her eyes almost hawk-like in their concentration. However when he tried another feint, she fell for it and had to fall back into a safer position.

"It's good to focus, but make sure you're aware of your environment." Levi advised. Mikasa nodded and readied herself.

It carried on as such until Shadis called out for them to cool down. He had been patrolling the room, offering advice to the younger students and a nod of approval to those more experienced. Levi and Mikasa began to stretch out.

“You’ve got some fancy-arse footwork going on,” Levi said, stretching his arm behind his back. “It’s good.”

“Ballet,” She said, pulling her foot out behind her and stretching it high enough to reach her shoulder blades. Levi raised an eyebrow. “You should try it. It helps with balance and flexibility too.” She said, performing the same stretch with the other foot.

“Maybe I will.” Levi replied, moving on to stretch his hamstring before catching a glimpse of her smirk. “So, you’re an Ackerman.” He blurted out. Mikasa turned her head quite suddenly. Levi had thought her expressions before had been guarded. Looking at her expression now, he could see he was sorely mistaken.

“What about it?” She asked, her voice curt. Levi snorted and her expression darkened further.

“Calm the fuck down doll-face. My mother and uncle are Ackerman’s, I was just trying to figure out if we were related.” He noticed from the corner of his eye that she had relaxed considerably.

“My dad doesn’t really associate with his side of the family so I don’t think I’d know.” She paused and thought for a moment. “What are their names?”

“Kuchel and Kenny.” Levi said, watching her face for any changes, noticing her brow furrow slightly at the mention of his uncle.

“Kenny Ackerman is your uncle.”

“Yep.”

“Are you in…regular contact with him?” She asked almost hesitantly. He felt like she wasn’t used to beating around the bush. He sighed and rolled his shoulders back, his spine popping into place.

“Yeah I am. And I know what he used to do. He doesn’t anymore.” It was strange for him to be talking about this with her, a person he had just met. Family was a strange thing.

“You sure?”

“I practically live with him. I think I’d notice.” Levi said, trying not to sound like a brat.

“I just wanted to be sure. Eren-”

“What the fuck has the brat got anything to do with it?”

Mikasa’s eye twitched slightly. He didn’t know if it was because he had interrupted her or if it was because he had called Eren a brat.

“Eren, well, you’ve met him. He kind of admires you.” She said, eyes wary.

“Tch. So I’ve heard.”

“So I just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t fall into anything to impress you.” She carried on. Levi rolled his eyes. He wasn’t offended by her assumption after hearing about his connection to Kenny, when one knew the older man’s history, it wasn’t hard to.

“Look, I appreciate the fact that you’re looking out for him but give him some credit, he doesn’t seem like a sheep.”

Mikasa let out a small smile. “I know.” She said quietly. Levi relaxed his shoulders slightly, stretching out his arms again to lessen the tension. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” She added, her smile turning into a smirk, “From Eren and Armin.” Levi raised an eyebrow. “We practically grew up together.” She explained.

Before they could continue the conversation, Shadis called the class together, giving out general feedback. He asked that the students email him their evaluation on the session and whether they wanted to continue to be paired with different levelled students or with those within their own. With that they were dismissed to the showers. Mikasa nodded a farewell and headed over to a smaller blonde girl before leaving the hall.

“She has a lot of potential doesn’t she?” Shadis said as he approached Levi.

“As much as we did?” Mike asked, joining in on the conversation.

“Maybe even more.” Their coach replied, a smile tugging at his lips. Levi offered a half-shrug.

“This school could do with some more trophies.” He said simply.

“That’s the kind of talk I like to hear.” Shadis gave them a (rather forceful) slap to the back and marched away, unaware of the glowers directed to his retreating form.  

“Is she really good?” Mike questioned, his eyes more visible as he brushed his sweaty bangs out of the way.

“Yeah. She has really good footwork. Said it was because of ballet.” He said, peering up the giant. “Wanna join me for a trial?” Levi asked, trying not to laugh at the image of Mike in a leotard.

“Fuck off you twerp, my footwork is fucking fabulous.”

***

That night when Levi was at home, enjoying the quiet of his room, he received a text from Farlan.

_\- Check facebook._

He frowned slightly, he never really went on the social media site, everyone he was friends with he either saw every day or had their number. He opened up the app on his phone, logging in, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw the number of notifications and friend requests he had received. Ignoring the pokes Hanji had sent him, he selected the notification:

_Isabel Magnolia has tagged you in a photo on Facebook._

Levi felt apprehensive, especially now, knowing the frequent interactions she had with his mother. Lord knew what she had tagged him in. The photo was of him at lunch, with Levi Jr (the name had stuck unfortunately) licking at his forefinger, who Izzy had tagged with his given name. Levi cursed to himself. He was smiling in the picture. Granted, it was a small smile but everyone who knew him knew that he didn’t do it often. Izzy had appropriately captioned the picture, _‘It’s not every day you get to capture the moment a miracle occurs’_. Levi rolled his eyes and frowned slightly at the 30 odd likes on the photo, scrolling through the list of familiar names and then opening up the alarming number of comments.

Hanji: THIS IS WHY FB NEEDS A LOVE BUTTON. I am printing this and framing it. Then I’m going to give it to Levi’s mother.

Izzy: I already whatsapped it to her!!!

(Levi had never been more grateful for the fact that his mother worked the night shift on a Thursday)

Jean: y isn’t there a cat named after me? Eren has one n even Levi. Instead u choose them and ‘Patch’. What a fucking waste.

Eren: Why would I name a cute kitty after a horse?

Izzy: Exactly, besides Levi Jr is a grump too. They look alike. And Patch is a great name so stfu.

Jean: Fuck off Eren

Izzy: If you guys start arguing on my post again I swear I’ll

Eren: …?

Jean: You’ll what?

Izzy: I left it open ended to be more threatening. Use your imaginations.

Hanji: OH MY GOD IT DOES LOOK LIKE LEVI IT EVEN DOES THAT FROWNY THING

Eren: Doesn’t it? It’s adorable

Hanji: Eren…ARE YOU SUGGESTING THAT LEVI IS ADORABLE

(Levi scowled at the screen, that shitty glasses was going to pay for this)

Eren: NO, NO I’M NOT – shit he’s gonna kill me – Levi I think you are not adorable at all

Hanji: So you’re saying he’s ugly?

Eren: What? No ofc not

Hanji: So you’re saying he’s smoking hot

(Levi was going to kill her)

Eren: HANJI LEAVE ME ALONE

Izzy: Hanji don’t stop please (Eren this is payback for the other night)

Eren: Iz I don’t think u can complain anymore tbh

Jean: Ur arse is done for jaeger

Hanji: ;))))))

Jean: holy shit I did not mean it like that pls don’t kill me levi

Eren: what the fuk ponyboy even I saw that coming u did that on purpose u shithead

Farlan: Levi’s gonna love all of these notifications.

Erwin: I wish I was around to see his facial expression.

(Levi had a deep furrow between his thin brows, his lips pursed tightly. He was trying not to notice the fact that Eren didn’t deny that he thought Levi was ‘smoking hot’.)

Levi: I’m going to kick you all so hard you’ll be shitting teeth.

Hanji: HEY LEVI LOOK ITS YOU AND YOU’RE SMILING

Eren: don’t be such a grumpy old man (pls don’t hurt me it wasn’t my fault)

Izzy: oh shush Levi, your mother said she loves the picture by the way

Farlan: I hope I’m not included in that threat.

Erwin: Same here

Levi: You bet your arses you are

Jean: see jaeger, I told u ur arse was done for.

Hanji: ;;;;;)))))))

Eren: FFS JEAN WHAT IS WITH YOU AND ARSES

Jean: wat can I say I’m an arse man ;)

Eren: Jean what the fuck

Levi: What the fuck horseface who the fuck let this idiot out of his shitty stable

Jean: fu

Levi: Was that directed to me?

Jean: NO to Eren I swear

Ymir: This is great. I am screenshotting all of this.

Bertolt: currently making a meme of Jean in his stable

Eren: send it to me when ur done

Hanji: me too

Jean: ??????

Izzy: SERIOUSLY GUYS WTF I GO AWAY FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES AND I HAVE OVER TEN NEW NOTIFICATIONS

Levi: It’s your damn fault for putting the photo up

Eren: yeah Izzy show some accountability

Izzy: Shut up Eren you said yes when I asked if I should

Levi: Why the fuck would you listen to a brat?

Eren: Hey! At least now people think ur a human being and not a robot stuck on one setting

Levi: …

Hanji: ………….

Erwin: ………………

Farlan: ……………………

Eren: ………………………………..?????

Farlan: It was nice knowing you Eren

Hanji: I’ll protect you don’t worry! Stick with me and you’ll be fine

Levi: Yes brat. Stick with her so it’ll be easier for me to hunt you both down.

Izzy: I’m serious you guys STOP COMMENTING.

Levi unfollowed the post and put his phone away, leaving his room to head to the kitchen. His mother usually made dinner on her night shift but Levi wanted to make sure. It wasn’t like Kenny would. His phone vibrated with a message from ‘Alien eyes’. Levi wondered if he’d ever change the name.

_\- Levi im sorry ur not a robot ur a fully functioning human bean_

_\- Not good enough brat_

_-_ _:(  :(  :(_

_\- Your puppy eyes won’t work on me_

_\- We’ll see._

_\- Indeed. Isn’t it past your bedtime?_

_\- Levi it’s not even 9pm…_

_\- Exactly. Children are recommended to have 10-12 hours of sleep a night._

_\- I’m not a child. I’m gonna be 17 in March._

_\- I bet your pulling that dumb duck face again._

_\- fu_

_\- I ought to wash out your mouth with soap_

_\- says the potty mouth_

He continued exchanging insults with the brat as he passed through the living room where his uncle was sprawled out on the sofa, watching some sort of documentary.

“Oi. Levi.”

Levi paused and looked over to Kenny who motioned him over. Kenny showed him the screen of his phone and proceed to laugh as his nephew swore. It was that damn picture.

“She’s sent it to all her friends. And it’s her profile picture on whatsapp.”

“Delete it.”

“Fuck no.”

“Kenny.” Levi narrowed his grey blue eyes at his uncle.

“Levi.” Kenny mirrored the action with almost identical eyes. “This is perfect bribing material. I can make you wash my car-”

“I already wash your car.” Levi mumbled.

“Clean the bar toilets after the weekend rush…” He continued to list various chores and Levi rolled his eyes. His mother would never allow Levi to step into Kenny’s bar, despite the older man’s insistence that he needed help. Levi had a feeling that as soon as he turned 18 that December, he would become a victim of slave labour. He shot off a message to Izzy.

_\- As soon as your grades are improved in French I am handing you over to Hanji. She has always wanted to have a brain to work on._

_\- huuuuuuh?? This sounds scary :/_

_\- Good._

_\- Levi?? C’mon Levi you know you don’t mean it._

_\- I mean it._

_\- Pleeeaassseee. I’ll go early to that bakery u like and get u a triple choc cookie so it’s nice and fresh and still warm with melty choc chips_

_\- Dammit_

_\- Scoore!_

Levi knew he never should have told her his weakness. It had come back to bite him on the arse.

Still. At least he was getting a free cookie out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it. WE'VE FINALLY MET MIKASA. Jeez, about time. I wrote the cat/dumpster bit and the fb bit at the same time and realised that I already had nearly 3000 words and I STILL HADN'T INTRODUCED MIKASA. She's a character that has been so influenced by her environment so it'll be interesting to see how she is in this setting. I hope she won't be too tricksy for me to write though *fingers crossed*. 
> 
> Okay I put Levi's surname as 'Arloit' (pronounced the french way: Ar-lwah - I made up the name though) seeing as he has taken his father's surname. It'll come up later but Levi's father in this story did play a positive role in his life. 
> 
> I went to a Mexican restaurant yesterday evening and ordered an enchilada which was very nice. I would have ordered the fajitas but you have to assemble those yourself and I was too hungry and I'm too much of a lazy shit in general. 
> 
> As usual - let me know if you spot any errors!!


	6. Role reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation of sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay!! Things have been a bit hectic at home and at uni and I was ill bleurgh - originally this story was supposed to be like an 8-10k oneshot but then things happened and whelp, here we are. 
> 
> I'm not sure I like this chapter. I wrote out a different (waaaay more angsty) ending and decided I didn't like it so I ended up rewriting like 1000 words so it might be all over the place- feedback would deffo be appreciated guys, was this a good chap??

As the end of term approached, as did his exams. Levi ended up spending most of his lunchtimes in the library, managing to get the hidden table at the back and away from Rico’s steely gaze, where he could munch on his sandwiches whilst poring over integration and differentiation for his upcoming maths exam. Ever since they had discovered mice in the library, it became a ‘no eating zone’. Levi didn’t mind the rule but he didn’t want to study in the canteen or learning zone where he would inevitably get distracted, so the sneaking was necessary.

On occasion, he would sit in the canteen, but never for too long and it was usually with Mike and not with his newfound friends. He wasn’t avoiding anyone. Especially not a certain green-eyed brat who had recently messaged him a ‘ _good luck with your exams old man!_ ’ At least Levi had replied to him, he just hadn’t spoken to the kid face-to-face for nearly two weeks, other than a nod in his direction, or a mumbled ‘I’m revising’ when he was invited to sit with them again or go and visit the cats (they had recently been relocated – it seems as though Eren’s and Izzy’s combined forces of puppy eyes had won over their parents). But yeah. He _definitely_ wasn’t avoiding anyone. Levi was just fulfilling his role of being a student by being, well, studious.

Exhibit 1: Bumping into Eren a few days ago by the lockers.

“Hey Levi!”

Levi looked up and nodded at him, sorting out the books in his locker.

“Are you coming to the canteen for lunch today?” Eren asked, leaning against the lockers and looking down at Levi, his eyes wide. Levi shook his head and looked back to his books.

“Can’t.”

“Come on old man, you’ve been in the library practically every lunchtime for like a week. You need a break every now and then. I think Hanji is having withdrawals.”

“I once went for a whole month without talking to Hanji,” Levi said, his brow furrowed slightly as he tried to find his notebook. “She can deal with a couple of weeks.”

“Er, right.”

“Fucking finally.” He murmured, as pulled out the notebook and closed the door. He looked up at Eren, trying to fight down the beginnings of guilt as he took in the brat’s slightly furrowed brow. He almost looked hurt. Levi swallowed and fixed the bag on his shoulder. “See you around kid.”

“Yeah, bye Levi.” Eren called out to his back. Levi offered a one-handed wave as he turned the corner.

Yep. He definitely wasn’t avoiding anyone. Not at all. Besides he had exams to worry about. If he did really well with these ones they would help with his applications for university and for any potential scholarships he wanted to apply for. He didn’t have time to think about developing friendships when he had a ton of other shit to focus on.

He was fairly confident in himself for this exam though, maths was one of his stronger subjects and he was good at keeping up with revising the subject. Seeing that there were fifteen minutes left till the exam, Levi got up and packed away his things, making sure no crumbs were left over from his lunch. He then headed over to the desk to return the revision textbook he’d been using and turned to leave.

“Levi.” Rico said, her voice quiet. He turned back to look at her questioningly. “You have crumbs here.” She motioned to an area on her face and Levi quickly rubbed at it, his eyes widening slightly. She smirked. “I let you get away with it because I know you tidy up after yourself. The others, not so much.” Her mouth curled slightly in disgust. Levi didn’t want to know what she was thinking.

“Right. Thanks Ms. Brzenska.”

“Good luck with your exam.”

***

A few hours later, Levi emerged from his classroom with less of a weight on his shoulders. It was a Friday and he was looking forward to having a bit of a break this weekend before his science exams next week. His other subjects had been done, it was only for History and English Lit that he had to write 2500 essays over the holidays, to be handed in after the New Year.

“Thank fuck that’s over.” Mike mumbled.

“Man I hope I got at least a B in this, I really don’t wanna have to retake it in the summer.” Farlan added, running a hand through his ruffled hair.

“Hey, I offered a group study session but you shits kept on chucking stuff at me so it’s your own fucking fault if you fail.”

“Blah blah _blah_ you’re such an old man Levi.” Hanji added as she joined them. “You have to learn to live a little.”

“And by living a little you mean chucking shit at people who are trying to teach you logarithms.” Levi said sardonically.

Mike rolled his eyes. “Alright we get it. You have a maths brain. Don’t you have a tutoring session to get to now?”

“No,” Levi replied, scowling up at the giant. “We might meet up during winter break though to get through those damn essays.”

“Really?” Farlan asked, an eyebrow raised. “I figured Kenny would drag your arse to the bar as soon as you turn 18.”

“Probably. He might go a bit easy on me seeing as the tournaments are on the 23rd and then the 29th.”

“You guys coming in for the practice sessions?” Mike asked, as they made their way to the exit.

“Yeah. Doesn’t sound like it’s gonna be much of a break.” Levi mumbled.

“Oh, but it’s gonna be your birthday Levi!” Hanji cried excitedly, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him, knocking his head back and forth. Levi shoved her into Mike who stopped her from falling.

“So what shitty glasses.”

“Soooo you’ve gotta have a party!”

“No.” Levi said as they reached the doors. It was pouring with rain, so the four of them stood around for a bit, waiting for it to die down. Levi was grateful for Farlan offering him a lift home. He had taken the bus on the way in but was not bothered to deal with the Friday afternoon rush, especially in this weather.

“Come on Levi, we obviously won’t do it on the day but like at least do _something_. We can do it at my house!” She said, her brown eyes wide behind her glasses. Levi looked at her.

“No.” He said, before turning back to face the window, burying his face in his scarf.

“Just have a party anyway.” Mike stated.

“Yeah exactly. Just without me.” Levi added.

“I’ll invite all your new friends!” Hanji said, a glint of something in her eyes. “Definitely Er-”

“And his new family.” Farlan interrupted, saving Levi from a potentially awkward conversation. Mike snorted.

“Wasn’t that a surprise?”

“Not really, they have similar expressions and mannerisms.” Hanji said, her finger on her chin. “I’m surprised I didn’t notice it sooner.”

“When did you meet Mikasa?” Levi asked.

“During various lunchtimes. When you were hiding in the library.” She said knowingly.

“I was _revising_. You know. For the exams we’ve been having. You know, the ones that pretty much determine our futures.”

“Ooh sassy Levi has made an appearance.” Farlan joked.

“Tch.”

“Anyway, it’s odd how similar the two of you are, I mean from what I’ve heard she’s also really good at kickboxing. Maybe it’s genetic.” She looked at Levi through her lashes, putting on an innocent (well as innocent as Hanji could get) expression on her face. “Say, Levi-”

“No.”

“What? You don’t even know what I’m asking for?!” She whined, jutting out her lower lip.

“The answer is no.”

“Dammit.” She pouted, folding her arms as the others snickered at her.

“Any plans for the weekend guys? Other than revision.” Farlan asked.

Hanji was still sulking and Mike shrugged his shoulders. No one ever knew what Mike got up to on the weekends. Probably Erwin, but the mysterious giant kept himself to himself a lot of the time.

“I’m going over to Izzy’s.” Levi said. “She has her French speaking exam on Monday and her accent is shit.”

“Aw come on Levi, not everyone has French-blood in them.” Farlan teased.

“She says piss-in instead of piscine Farlan. I can’t even fucking tell if it’s a joke or not.” He grumbled, sighing in relief as the rain finally began to let up. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.” He said as he marched out of the building, leaving the others laughing behind him.

***

When Levi arrived at Izzy’s that Saturday afternoon, she didn’t greet him at the door. It wasn’t the first time he had been to her house but it was still odd when her father opened the door and told him she was upstairs in her room.

He knocked before entering (potty mouth or no, Levi had manners and fuck Hanji, he _was_ a gentleman). After hearing Izzy’s ‘come in’, he opened the door and stepped inside her room.

He managed to avoid the first pillow to the face, however the second one was a sneak attack that even his fast reflexes couldn’t avoid.

“What the _fuck_?” Levi hissed, wary of Mr. Magnolia within earshot downstairs. Izzy glowered at him and showed her the screen of her phone. Levi (warily) approached her and read the messages she had opened up between her and Farlan.

**Farlan**

_Say Izzy, do you like swimming?_

**Izzy**

_Yeeeess – why are you asking?_

**Farlan**

_Well the new leisure centre opened up across town – I heard the piss-in is really good_

**Izzy**

_LEVI TOLD YOU DIDN’T HE THAT ARSEHOLE_

**Farlan**

_:)_

Izzy snatched her phone away before Levi could read the rest of their conversation. He sniffed and pursed his lips. She narrowed her eyes at him and then huffed.

“Go on and laugh then you dickhead.”

Levi snorted instead and they both sat on the floor around her notes.

“And to think, I asked my aunt to get some cookies from the bakery on her way here.” She said haughtily, leaning forward to grab the pillows she had flung at him.

“Yeah well you took a picture of me without my consent. Pretty sure that could be illegal Iz.”

She tutted and rolled her eyes. “Oh get over it. You got like 40 likes on that picture, you should be _flattered._ ”

“You fucking sent it to my  mother. Who then emailed it to her cousin in France and now my fucking great-aunt has a picture with me and that damn cat.”

“Oh my god Levi that is so cute!” She said excitedly.

“My uncle is planning on bribing me with that picture.”

“It can’t be _that_ bad Levi. There must be baby photos of you smiling.”

“No there aren’t actually.”

Izzy looked up from the note-cards she was shuffling through.

“You’re…joking right?”

Levi’s lips twitched and Izzy leaned forward to shove his shoulder. She didn’t need to know about a particularly embarrassing photo of Levi when he was about 9 and had his two front teeth fall out about the same time, grinning gummily at the camera from his spot in front of the television in his Spiderman pyjamas. The only reason his mother removed it from plain sight was because a) she caught Levi trying to light up the thing with Kenny’s lighter and b) she caught a certain shitty glasses trying to steal it when they had (finally) been invited over.

“So…you and Farlan text a lot then?”

Levi smirked and caught the pillow thrown at him, which he then placed on his lap.     

“Yes.” She said, pretending to read something on her card. Levi raised an eyebrow and waited for her to look up at him. “No! I’m not saying anything, you’ll just go back and tell him.” Levi waited a little more and tried not to smirk as she sighed heavily. “He’s a really cool guy.”

“Okay.” Levi said, leaning forward to pick through her notes, trying to make sense of her scribbles. He always had trouble reading Izzy’s writing.

“I wasn’t finished!” She cried out.

“Oh.”

“You’re so shit at this.” She snickered.

“So are you guys going out or what?” Levi asked.

“No, we’re just friends.” She said, almost wistfully. “But I’m liking it. Just getting to know him first.”

“Yeah you’re right I’m shit at this. This is fucking weird.”

“Shut up Levi! I’m still not done.” Levi held his tongue upon noticing the seriousness of her tone.

“What is it?”

She sighed, shrugging slightly, fiddling with the hem of her hoody. “You know he has a rep right?”

Levi raised an eyebrow.

“Like, I know you’ve known each other for years and that you’re really close but you must have heard of it.” She said, her cheeks flushing slightly.

“What, that he fucks around?”

“Yeah.” She finished, her eyes dropping. Levi rolled his.

“Look Izzy, if that was all he wanted, he would have gotten it by now.”

She snorted. “Really? He’s such a dork.”

“You’d be surprised.” Levi mumbled, Farlan was a smooth-talker, it had helped them out of many a situation when they were caught on the wrong side of things. And with the notches on his bedpost. He wasn’t a dick though, it’s just that he was a good-looking charismatic young man, and his ‘conquests’, as Hanji liked to call them, were attracted to that.

“So…I should just go with it?” Izzy asked.

“You should do whatever the fuck you wanna do.” Levi retorted. “Did I come here to help you with French or to talk about Farlan?”

“Or we could talk about how Eren thinks you’re avoiding him.” She said coyly, as Levi’s elbow nearly slipped on the pillow he was resting it on. Izzy raised an eyebrow at him.

“I haven’t been avoiding anybody.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her. _Liar._

“He says you barely hang out with him at school and that you’re not texting him as often. He thinks he’s pissed you off or something.” She said accusatorily.

“In case you haven’t noticed, it is currently exam season. I haven’t been hanging out with anyone or messaging anyone.” Levi said tersely. Izzy huffed.

She was kind of right though. Levi was surprised Eren had caught on, he was supposed to be oblivious after all. In all honesty, Levi just didn’t feel right about the brat. He knew there was no point in denying that he was attracted to Eren, but it (fortunately) hadn’t developed into a full-blown pining crush. Yet. Which was precisely why Levi needed a break from the brat. To quell the attraction. Of course his exams were a perfect excuse for that, and then winter break on top of it would help.

There was no point in pursuing it, he never was good at that kind of bullshit and he knew he was shit at relationships of any kind. That and he felt like he was somewhat taking advantage of a kid who obviously looked up to him, according to Armin and Mikasa. So Levi did what he always did when things got emotionally awkward – he ignored it and hoped it would go away.

He could tell Izzy wanted to talk about it but he instead made them focus on her French, fixing up any grammatical errors in her answers and working on her pronunciation.

***

Around a half hour later, the doorbell rang and Levi could hear Izzy’s mother talking to someone.

“It’s probably my aunt. I hope she remembered those cookies.” Izzy mumbled, looking up at him.

“What? You owe me those cookies.”

“Pfft.”

“Now, how do you say I miss you?”

Izzy groaned. “Not this again.” She looked at his unimpressed expression. “Je…te manque?”

“Tch, it’s: tu me manque Izzy. Je te manque is you miss me.”

“Aw man I always forget that one.”

“It’s like Yoda.”

“Eh?”

“You, I miss. Tu me manque.”

“Oh yeah! Tu me manque.” She repeated.

“Not ‘mank’, manque.” Levi said, his eye twitching slightly.

“That’s what I said. Tu me manque.”

“You just said mank. Look at my mouth when I say it, you’re widening yours, you’re not supposed to. Manque.” Levi said again slowly.

“Mank.”

Levi grabbed her face and pushed her cheeks together.

“You don’t widen your face when you say it.”

“You’re not making any sense!” She whined, pouting and subsequently looking like a fish.

“Look, manque, look at the shape of my mouth when I say it.” He repeated it again, watching as Izzy concentrated on the movement of his mouth.

“Manque.”

“Better, now-”

There was a knock on the open door of Izzy’s room.

“Er hi?”

Levi looked to his right to see Eren standing in the doorway of Izzy’s room, his eyes moving between Levi and the hand on Izzy’s face.

“Hey Eren I didn’t know you were coming!” Izzy exclaimed loudly, her voice coming out weird through Levi’s grip. Levi slowly turned to face her, an eyebrow raised.

“Iz, I literally just t-”

“Did your mum bring the cookies? Did you bring Prince and the kittens over too? It’s my turn to look after them you know, you’ve had them the whole week!” She said, practically yelling. She pulled her face out from Levi’s grip and avoided his stare as she jumped out and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. He looked up at Eren.

“Who the fuck is Prince?” Levi asked.

“Izzy decided to name the mother of the kittens Prince.” Eren explained, sitting at Izzy’s desk. Levi stood and brushed off his jeans.

“Well, might as well see how my namesake is doing.” He said, pausing as Eren got back up and partly blocked his way. Levi raised an eyebrow. 

“Erm, before you head down, I just wanted to ask you something.” Eren said, pulling on the bottom of his jumper.

“Go ahead.” Levi folded his arms. _Way to be defensive._

“Have I…pissed you off or something?” He asked. “I mean, you’ve basically been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks.”

“It’s exam season Eren. I’ve been avoiding everyone.” Levi said bluntly, beginning to feel slightly annoyed at the amount of shit he was getting about this. Eren sighed.

“So you’re not pissed off?”

“No. Should I be?” He asked, raising a thin eyebrow. Eren smiled slightly and shook his head.

“Nah, I just thought that you’d message or something.”

Levi shrugged. He wasn’t good at this shit. “It’s not really what I do.”

“Well I mean you message Hanji and Erwin. And Izzy told me you message Farlan all the time.”

“What are we, five?” Levi asked. “They’re all my close friends who I’ve known for years.”

“It’s not that hard to reply to a message Levi.” Eren said reprimandingly. They weren't joking around anymore.

“You’re really beginning to sound like a whiny brat.”

“Whenever I message Hanji she replies.”

“Well I’m not Hanji fucking Zoe am I? What the fuck Eren you’re making it sound like we’re a fucking married couple or something.” Eren flushed angrily.

“No Levi, we’re friends. Friends message each other and check up on how they’re doing.”

“Friends are also understanding that when it’s exam time they might not be able to do the same shit they normally do. We’ve known each other for just over a month kid.”

“Well I guess it’s my fault for thinking we got along well.”

“When did I say we didn’t? Is this some weird-arse complex?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Eren asked, narrowing his eyes. Levi shrugged.

“Your little friends mentioned some bullshit about you admiring me,” It felt really fucking weird saying it out loud, “And Arlert said something about you not being allowed to take part in kickboxing-”

Eren snorted loudly. “I saw you fighting, I thought it was really cool. I saw you defend someone at the tournament when a dick from another school started picking on them. I thought you were this cool mysterious guy and then I met you and we got along and that was it.”

“Then why the fuck do you keep nagging at me for? Do you message all of your friends in your little group all the time and expect replies?”

“You’re really starting to sound like a pretentious dick.”

“Oh really?”

“I’m only a year younger than you Levi. I’m not a fucking five year old,” He said, glowering at Levi’s ‘ _you could have fooled me’_. “And excuse me for being a decent friend and trying to stay in contact.”

“It’s been two weeks Eren.”

“And how much longer would you have ignored me if I hadn’t brought this up?”

“I wasn’t ignoring you.”

Eren sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know you think I’m being dramatic-” Levi snorted at that, “You know what Levi, I’m doing what you fucking suggested.”

“When the fuck did I suggest this?”

“You said you preferred it when people told you shit to your face. I may be oblivious sometimes but I can tell when people start treating me different. So I’m telling you to your face that it's been bothering me and now you’re being a dick about it.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Levi felt like this was a dream. This was too surreal a conversation to be having.

“Just tell me why you’ve been acting different. If it’s the hero-complex thing, I don’t have one.” Eren said, folding his arms. Levi sighed.

“Just…” He paused, looking up at the brat. “I don’t do this shit.” He said, motioning between them.

“Do _what?_ ” Eren said exasperatedly.

“This whole new fucking friendship thing.”

“You get along fine with Armin and Izzy.”

“Armin is my tutor and Izzy is a persistent little shit and has latched herself onto me. Pretty much the same thing Hanji did.” Levi mumbled, sitting down on Izzy’s bed. He looked up again at Eren who was still frowning. “Look, we all have history and personal shit. When I meet new people, they expect me to spill it out like fucking diarrhoea.”

“I don’t.” Eren said simply, sitting beside him. “Not unless you wanted to tell me about it. I’d respect that. Just like you know that I’m not allowed to take part in kickboxing but you haven’t asked me why.”

Levi clenched his jaw slightly as he thought about what the brat was saying. He was pretty sure, seeing as how he’d grown up with Mikasa that she’d mentioned something to him about her family, yet Eren hadn’t mentioned it once to him, even though he had joked about Levi and Mikasa being related.  

“For a brat, you’re surprisingly mature.” Levi said, his voice a lot softer than before. Eren shrugged, a grin stretching out across his face, detecting a change in atmosphere. Levi felt a small sense of relief, deciding that he much preferred the shit-eating grin to the previous frown he had been wearing.

“Maybe you should call me old man and I should call you a brat.”

“You’re still a little shit.” He said, giving Eren a light shove to the shoulder.

“Ah, but I’m a mature little shit.” He replied, leaning against him slightly, his eyes bright.

“That sounds fucking gross.” Levi said leaning away, his nose wrinkled up in disgust. Eren snickered at him.

“You’re the one who always talks about shit. You should get Armin to help you with that, it’s probably something to do with a limited vocabulary.”

“I don’t see much point in talking when a punch can give a stronger message.” He said threateningly to the now laughing Eren. The brat then reached over for his phone and looked up at Levi.

“I’m just gonna message Iz and tell her she can come back up now.” He said as he tapped on his screen before sliding it back in his pocket. Levi narrowed his eyes.

“Wait did you plan this?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure she did. Besides, I’m glad she did. I’m pretty sure you are too.”

“Tch.”

Levi was saved from further embarrassment by a knock on the door.

“Guys a little help here please?” Izzy’s muffled voice asked from behind the door. Levi got up and yanked it open, glaring down at the redhead. He quickly snorted as he took in the tray she was holding with three steaming mugs, a plate of cookies, and a curled up Levi Jr on her shoulder. He grabbed the tray from her and placed it on the floor (her orders) and sat back down on the carpet, in the same position as he was before Eren arrived, except now there was a weight off his shoulders. Not that he would admit it of course.

“So you guys finally sorted out whatever the problem was I see.” She said almost proudly, stroking the kitten in her lap. Eren rolled his eyes as he reached for a mug, blowing on it before taking a sip. Izzy took their silence as confirmation. “Well I sure am grateful, that’s for sure, I don’t think I would have been able to put with your whining,” She said, motioning towards her cousin before looking over to Levi to continue, “Or your grumpier than usual attitude for any longer. I don’t think any of us would.”

“Us?” Levi asked.

“I wasn’t whining.” Eren whined. Levi and Izzy snorted at him.

“Us means Hanji, myself and Armin. Mikasa explicitly told us to leave her out of it.”

“Smart girl.” Levi said, grabbing a cookie and humming in content as he chewed into it. They were still warm. Damn were they good cookies.

“You guys are all bullies. Tell them to leave me alone Levi.” Eren sulked. He then dropped his head on an unsuspecting Levi’s shoulder. Levi froze and looked up at Izzy, his expression one of confusion. She shrugged and smiled sweetly at him.

“Get the hell off me brat.” He said as he shoved at the brown mop of hair, ignoring the sudden warmth he felt at the proximity. Eren pouted and reached for Levi Jr.

“You won’t ever push me away Levi Jr, will you? No, you like my hugs don’t you? Not like a certain grump.” He cooed at the small creature. It mewled in response and Eren beamed before scowling at Levi. Levi shrugged and ate more of his cookie before looking back at Izzy who had her phone out.

“Did you just take a picture again?” Levi asked, eyes narrowed. Izzy shrugged.

“I’m not putting it up on Facebook, jeez chill out.” She said as she tapped away. “Just sending it to the others as evidence.”

“You guys are so dramatic.” Eren said, stroking Levi Jr behind the ears. Izzy scoffed.

“You’re the one who was dramatic, _Oh Izzy, Levi hates me!_ ” She gasped, clutching at her chest. Levi smirked as the two began to argue.

And maybe the next time when Eren slumped against him, Levi waited a few seconds longer before shoving him off again.

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi is an awkward potato who doesn't know how to emotion. 
> 
> Also, look at Eren being all mature and grown up. How is Levi going to manage with this peculiar revelation? Easy: by entering pining hell.


End file.
